Remember Me
by Midnight Lost
Summary: Kidnapped from his mother and village at a young age, young Naruto had his memories sealed away with the intent of turning him into a loyal weapon for Konoha. But fate often times likes to play with mortals expectations and unravel even the best laid plans. Naruto x Harem, Evil!Hiruzen, Kakashi, Hiruzen, and general Konoha bashing.
1. Chapter 1

**Authors Notes:** Alright first up, while I have started this story, Darkness Falls still takes priority in updates and will be the focus of my attention. But, the idea for this story was just too strong to ignore, and I just had to get it started. So, here it is. And no, the title is not from the Coco song, while it is a good and emotion filled song, it is not the inspiration for the title.

On that note, Kingdom Hearts is to blame for the plot bunny for this story, since I begun my first foray into the game now that it was released on to Xbox One.

And on that note, this story is a cross over of sorts, though it takes place solely in the Naruto universe, so expect to see a number of characters from various other anime's, video games, and other entertainment media. Also, before you ask, this is a harem, though significantly smaller then the one in Darkness Falls.

Please be aware that this story will move at a faster pace with multiple time jumps, and the girls listed below (with the exception of Anko), will already have an established relationship with Naruto, even though he doesn't remember. Also, the Naruto depicted in this story while similar to his cannon counter part, will still have some difference's early on in regards to his personality and perception to those around him.

* * *

**Harem**

_**Morgiana – **(Magi) – A member of the Fanalis Clan, she is identified by her bubblegum pink hair that is usually tied off in a side pony tail that hangs off the left side of her head, and pink eyes. Usually quiet and reserved, she is physically and emotionally tough, though can be vulnerable with anything regarding Naruto, being one of his first best friends. She is a master in taijutsu with strengths and speeds rivaling most Jonin level Shinobi. Upon Naruto's kidnapping, Morgiana became infuriated and vowed not to rest until he was found, and to make the ones responsible pay._

_**Kairi –**_ _(Kingdom Hearts) – __Caring, kindhearted and brave, Kairi is not afraid to speak her mind, which sometimes lands her and her friends in trouble. She is usually very cheerful and upbeat, though her bravery can be seen as somewhat reckless. __She is identified by her red hair and deep ocean blue eyes, and a fierce determination to never abandon her friends. __Kairi was emotionally destroyed whens he learned about Naruto's kidnapping, making a promise that she would see him again. __Of the five girls, she was affected the most on an emotional level, sometimes falling into despair._

_**Xion –**_ _(Kingdom Hearts) – __Short black hair and golden eyes, Xion tends to be shy around new people, though is somewhat emotionally fragile, becoming deeply enraged with the right provocation. Namely anything involving Naruto's disappearance. With a strong sense of justice and generosity, Xion will fight hard to protect those she cares for. __After learning of Naruto's kidnapping, Xion was enraged, vowing along side Morgiana to find him._

_**Aqua –**_ _(Kingdom Hearts) – __Blue hair, and equally blue eyes, Aqua is remarkabl__y__ calm and collected. Remaining dead set on her goals and ambitions, __essentially becoming the voice of reason for the girls in their search for Naruto after his kidnapping, keeping them on track to find any lead on his location. __Like the others, Aqua was distraught upon learning of Naruto's disappearance. Joining the others in their mission to find him and bring him back home._

_**Rory –**_ _(Gate) – __Black hair, and crimson red eyes; Rory Makyuri is the power house of the __f__ive girls. Generally wielding a large halberd weapon, she has earned the nickname Rory the Reaper. Despite her earned nickname, she has an overly friendly personality, though she is merciless to her enemies. In combat, she has shown to have a violent and sadistic streak. Upon meeting Naruto, she __proclaims that he is her destined one to be with forever. Her reaction to Naruto's kidnapping resulted in her going o__ut__ and slaughtering an army of bandits and various other criminals in a fit of pure rage._

_**Anko –**_ _Well, you all know who this is and what anime she is from, so I don't think any further information is needed. _

Now, two or three more may be added, but for the most part, this is a majority of the list. Ones being considered are Sakura, Koyuki, Ino, and Tenten.

Now, on with the story!

* * *

**Remember Me**

Chapter 1

_Laughter and cheerful voices._

_This is what surrounded the young boy as he laid in the grass on the hill top, resting under a cherry blossom tree. Hearing his name being called out, Naruto sat up and looked to where the voices came from. Seeing five bodies running towards them, all female. A blur of pink, blue, red, and black hair was all he could make out as they drew near. Giggling and laughing as they playfully pushed each other back to reach him first._

"…_.-chan, …..-chan, …..-chan, …..-chan, …..-chan!" He cheerfully called out to them as he stood up to greet the approaching girls._

_Though as they drew near, their faces became more and more blurry, making it so he couldn't make out what they looked like. However, he was still over joyed to see them as the pink haired girl had won the impromptu race between the five girls, wrapping her arms around his neck as she planted a kiss on his lips._

"_No fair ….-chan!" The red headed girl shouted. "You cheated!"_

"_I did not ….-chan." The pink haired girl that had just kissed Naruto responded. "We agreed that there were no rules."_

"_Which you took complete advantage of with your wind affinity." The blue haired girl stated as she reached the group. "At any rate, your mother has sent us to tell you that tomorrow she will officially announce our engagement to you, Naruto-kun."_

"_I'm so excited, Naruto-kun!" A girl with long black hair exclaimed as she pounced upon the young blonde boy._

"_Me too!" A second girl with short black hair spoke up as she reached the group, panting slightly. Not being as physical as the other girls._

"_Yup, and after we come of age, we'll all be married to Naruto-kun!" The pink haired girl exclaimed as she brought Naruto and the other girls into a large hug filled of warmth and joy, prompting the entire group to laugh._

"_Here, I made these for all of you." Naruto smiled as he reached into his pocket and pulled out five separate necklaces with silver chains, and a bluish green crystal. Handing one to each of the girls in front of him._

"_It's beautiful, Naruto-kun!" The red haired girl exclaimed as she cradled the necklace in her hands._

"_I agree, it is quite charming that you made these." The blue haired girl stated as she held her own necklace._

"_I love it!" The girl with short black hair exclaimed as she hugged the necklace._

"_As expected from my destined one." The long black haired girl replied._

"_Yup, I wanted to make one for each of you to signify our bond together." Naruto smiled as the crystal of each of the necklaces glowed brightly. "So that when things get dark, our love will glow brighter to light up the darkness."_

"_We love you Naruto-kun!" The five girls exclaimed as they brought the blonde boy into another hug._

"_I love you girls too." He smiled. "My himes."_

"_Come on, ….-sama is waiting for us!" The blue haired girl stated, prompting the small group of young lovers to chuckle and laugh as they took off in another impromptu race._

* * *

**Real World**

Slowly, he opened his eyes and stared up at the morning sky as clouds slowly drifted over head. Birds chirping and singing to greet the day. With a groan, he sat up and rubbed the sleep out of his eyes, noting that he had ended up crying while he slept.

'_That dream again.'_ He mentally sighed, reaching down he took hold of the necklace he wore of the same design of the ones that he gave to the girls, his princesses, in his dream. Receiving a sense of comfort from it. _'I've been having that dream every night for as long as I can remember. It has to mean something, but what?'_

"You know, you shouldn't sleep outside." A soft voice sounded from just behind him, off to the left. Turning his head, he could make out a feminine like figure wearing a pink kimono. "You could catch a cold."

"Never been sick before." Naruto replied as he got up and stretched. "The name's Naruto, by the way."

"Haku, a pleasure to meet you, Naruto-san." The now identified Haku greeted. "So, why were you sleeping out in this field?"

"Bit of a disagreement with a snot nosed, spoiled brat." The blonde replied with a snort, thinking back of the previous night when the bridge builders grandson ranted that they knew nothing of suffering. Naruto had had enough and verbally lashed out at the kid, telling Inari bluntly that many have suffered far more then he ever had, and that the kid should be thankful he still has a family that loves him, all before storming out of the house.

"I mean, I understand he has lost someone close to him." Naruto continued, missing the somber frown that showed on Haku's face. "But to assume that no one has suffered more then him?"

The kid didn't have to worry about the villagers of the village he lived in gathering to beat him within an inch of his life. To torture him for crimes he never committed, and other reasons unknown to the blonde. Another thing Inari didn't have to worry about was when he was going to get his next meal. Sure, things were tight in Wave right now, but Tsunami always made sure there was food on the table. Naruto on the other hand had spent countless weeks rummaging in garbage bins, just looking for something decent enough to sate his hunger.

"Life can be cruel to good people." Haku commented with a sense of understanding. "Why were you crying? Were you having a nightmare?"

"No, not a nightmare. Nightmares are filled with fear, pain, and horror." Naruto replied with a frown before looking down at his necklace, firmly grasping it once more as he closed his eyes. "This was…. I don't know what it was. It was filled with laughter and joy."

"Sounds like a pleasant dream, so why the tears?"

"There were five girls." Naruto smiled slightly as he recalled the dream that had plagued every single night he could recall. Though from the corner of his eye, he could see a teasing smile on Haku's face, but ignored it. "I couldn't make out their faces, or hear their names. I could only make out their hair color and voices. But I know they were dear to me."

The black haired teen could only frown at this. It sounded like someone had messed with this poor boys memories. Removing large chunks of the boys memories, no doubt from his early childhood. It made the young teen wonder what the person responsible for this was hiding,

"Maybe it's a sign of whats to come, Naruto-san." Haku smiled, reassuring the boy.

"I highly doubt it, unless I suddenly de-age by about six years." Naruto chuckled.

"Then perhaps it was a long repressed memory?"

"Maybe." He frowned, not liking the implication of it. Though he couldn't argue with it either. Since everything before he was seven years old was blank. He had asked the old man Hokage about this, and was told that when he was younger, Naruto had fallen from a great height during one of his pranks and hit his head. He never really dwelt much on it, simply accepting what the man whom he saw as a grandfather figure had told him, as the truth.

Another reason the young blonde didn't ponder such things was due to the burning sensation that he would feel on the back of his neck. Though it felt like it was coming from inside of his body, causing him an immense amount of pain. Almost to the point he would pass out.

"That head-band, are you a shinobi, Naruto-san?" Haku asked, snapping the young blonde out of this thoughts.

"Yup!" He smiled, adjusting his forehead protector.

"You must train hard then."

"I have to, if I want to be the Hokage of my village." The blonde replied with his trade mark, foxy grin. "That way, all the people who look down on me and treat me like dirt will have to acknowledge me."

Haku could only chuckle at the boys drive.

"Also, I have to fulfill a promise to someone." He added.

"Tell me, do you have someone precious?" Haku inquired, as he continued to pick herbs and place them in the basket.

Naruto had to think about that for a moment, as his right hand went immediately to the necklace he wore as a dull pain flared up in the back of his mind. There were only a select handful of people in Konoha he actually cherished and would go to great lengths to earn their approval. The first and foremost being his Ji-ji, followed closely by Anko; an eccentric and sadistic woman just a few years older then him that he viewed as an older sister, and finally Iruka-sensei along with the father and daughter duo at his favorite ramen stand.

"I suppose I do, even if they are not many." The blonde replied.

"That is good." Haku smiled. "When you protect someone truly precious to you, that is when you become your strongest."

Once again, at the words _**'someone truly precious'**_, Naruto's hand once again found itself wrapping around his necklace, and once again, a dull pain in the back of his mind flared up. Causing the blonde to grunt slightly, bringing his hand up to his head to attempt to ease the pain.

"I agree." The blonde finally answered after the pain subsided, putting on a fake smile to hide his pain. "I will train harder to protect those precious to me."

"Good." The black haired teen replied as he stood up with the basket now full of healing herbs. "Get stronger, I know we will meet again."

"Right." Naruto smiled, as he watched Haku leave the clearing they were in. Feeling a bit more relieved due to having someone to actually talk to about the dreams he had been having.

"Oh, by the way," Haku paused. "I'm a boy."

'_WHAT!'_ Naruto mentally screamed as his mouth hung open in shock at the revelation. _'He looks __prettier__ then Sakura-chan!'_

As for the young black haired boy, he couldn't help but chuckle to himself at the blondes reaction to his revelation. Though it was short lived as another black haired youth entered the clearing, the blondes team mate, Sasuke Uchiha. Remaining silent, Haku walked passed the Uchiha boy without a second glance and disappeared into the trees. Though Haku couldn't help but feel sorry for the young blonde. Someone had really messed with the poor boys memories. He was more then willing to bet that the blondes dream was exactly what he said it was. A repressed memory of an event dearly important to him.

* * *

**One Week Later**

'_Where did he __disappear to__ this time?'_ Kakashi sighed as he stared at the empty futon that Naruto had been using during their stay at the bridge builders house. The silver haired jonin had noticed a change in the young blondes demeanor ever since he disappeared the night he stormed out of the house after the confrontation with the bridge builders grandson.

Over the last week, Naruto wasn't as loud or boisterous as he had been the past few years. Often times he would find the young blonde on the docks staring out over the water as he would stroke the necklace the blonde never took off. Even reducing how much he would ask Sakura out on a date, which while put the pink haired girl into an off mood. On one hand, the pinkette was happy that the blonde had seemingly given up on her. On the other, she would feel like something was missing due to the blondes absence.

"Better go find him before he gets himself into trouble." Kakashi thought out loud as he turned and hobbled down the stairs, still not fully healed from his ordeal from his previous battle with Zabuza.

"Kakashi-sensei." The sole female genin called out as she ran up to him. "Have you seen Sasuke-kun?"

"He left just after breakfast to go train." He answered with a frown, since she would have known that if she hadn't spent an hour and a half in the bathroom trying to make herself look good for the last Uchiha. While Sakura was book smart, had perfect chakra control, and was top kunoichi of her class; she was a fan girl for the raven haired boy and it severely hampered her focus on her career as a kunoichi.

"Oh." She replied sheepishly.

"I was about to go out and look for Naruto."

"That baka run off again?" The pinkette huffed, crossing her arms. "I bet he is just doing it to get attention."

"I doubt it." Kakashi frowned as he left the house with the pinkette in tow. "Perhaps the weight of his first mission outside of the village is hitting him and making him realize that being a shinobi is about a lot more then personal gratification and fame."

Sakura frowned at this, getting the feeling that her sensei's words were also directed at her as well, but remained silent.

After nearly fifteen minutes of scouting the wooded area behind the house, they were alerted to the blondes location when a kunai landed a few feet in front of them, prompting them to look up. Finding Naruto sitting on a branch near the top of the tree. Gash's could be seen cut deeply into the tree's trunk, marking the progress the young teen had accomplished during his night long training.

"Morning, Kakashi-sensei, Sakura!" The blonde greeted, looking down at the two. Earning a frown from the pinkette due to the lack of -chan suffix that the young teen usually attached to her name.

'_Naruto was able to tree walk that high?'_ Sakura thought to herself, clearly amazed that he was able to accomplish such a feat.

Meanwhile, Kakashi had other thoughts.

'_It took him just under a week to master the tree walking exercise.__' _The silver haired jonin thought to himself as he observed the slashes going up the tree trunk._ '__Not t__o__o fast, but also not t__o__o slow to be completely left behind. Hokage-sama will be pleased.'_

"Come on down Naruto." He finally called up.

With a small sigh, the blonde pushed himself up and moved to step down only to slip, causing those below to cry out in surprise before he attacked both feet to the under side of the branch. A shit eating grin adorning his face.

"Ha!" He exclaimed, looking down at them. "I got you!"

Deciding to not try his luck and ruin a good prank, he continued his trek down the tree trunk before landing firmly. Though he could see neither his sensei, nor his pink haired team mate were amused by his prank. Kakashi glared at him with narrowed eyes in disapproval, and Sakura was clenching her fists in anger at the blondes actions.

"NARUTO!" She screeched. "You idiot! You could have died if you fell from that height!"

"Like you would care." Naruto scoffed as he walked past a now shocked Sakura.

It may have been callous for the blonde teen to say such a thing, but after his talk with Haku, he really began to reflect on how those around him perceived him. He really could only count on a very small amount of people within the village that would truly mourn him, should such an event befall him. His current team were not among them. Sakura for one had made it very clear that the pink haired girl cared very little for anyone who was not named Sasuke Uchiha. Not to mention her constant physical abuse towards him. Lashing out at him for even the smallest of things, some of which he had nothing to do with and just had the misfortune of being in the general area of her.

And don't even get the blonde started on his raven haired team mate. The 'Prince of Konoha' himself, Sasuke Uchiha. Due to nearly the entire village worshiping the very ground the last Uchiha walked on, the raven haired teen had grown a superiority complex and an ego to match. Looking down on anyone, regardless of their rank within the village. Throughout the first few months of doing nothing but D-rank missions, Sasuke had repeatedly complained about doing what he dubbed 'servant work', doing as little as possible while pushing a majority of the work off onto Naruto.

Lastly, there was their Jonin-sensei, Kakashi Hatake. At best, the lazy Jonin could be described as that, lazy. Though Naruto did have to concede that at least Kakashi was impartial when it came to him, but almost to a neglectful level as the masked Jonin had almost immediately shown favoritism towards the Uchiha.

"Naruto, that was uncalled for." Kakashi chastised, earning another scoff from the blonde.

"You know it's true, Kakashi-sensei. Not a damn person will give a damn if I die." He responded without even look back at his Jonin-sensei. "Hell, I bet half the village would celebrate my death."

Kakashi could only frown as the blonde made his way towards the house, while Sakura was shocked to receive such coldness from the blonde who had on crush on her. However, what really caught her off guard, was how sure he sounded when he said the village would celebrate his death. Like he fully believed that the village would celebrate his death.

As the two watched the blonde disappear into the trees towards the house, Sakura turned to Kakashi, as if to ask her sensei about what had just happened. As long as she had known the blonde knucklehead, she had never seen him act so melancholy before. He was always loud, obnoxious, and well, annoying.

"Wha-what was that all about?" She asked.

"Like I said earlier, Naruto is feeling the full weight of what it means to be a shinobi. As such, he has probably done away with any misconception of how people feel about him, no matter how misguided his feelings are." Was all the silver haired jonin replied with usual bored tone. Though on the inside, he was worried about the blonde genin. Not necessarily for his welfare, but the security of the village.

'_I should __report this to the Hokage as well. It won't do Konoha any good if our weapon is mentally broken.__'_ He mentally sighed as he pulled out his trademark orange book. _'__I'll check the seals tonight, just to make sure they are still holding.'_

On the other hand, Sakura felt a twinge of guilt. Knowing she was responsible for at least half of the reason's her blonde team mate felt the way he did. Sure, she didn't really try to get to know him, nor did she really pay attention to his introduction when they first became a team; but she really didn't want him to think she wouldn't care if he died.

'_**Perhaps we should at least try to get to know him a bit more.'**_ Inner Sakura offered, picking up on her outer self's dilemma.

'_I guess, I really don't want him to feel like no one will care if he died.' _The pinkette frowned, though content in her decision to try and get to know her blonde team mate better.

* * *

**Great Bridge Battle, One Week Later**

Naruto could only watch in shock and horror at the scene that played out in front of him.

The blonde had arrived late, having slept in due to training late into the night the previous evening, only to be woken up by Tsunami screaming as two of Gato's thugs had arrived at the house to kidnap the bridge builders daughter to hold her as ransom to ensure the old mans surrender, and to perhaps use the poor girl for other means of entertainment. To complicate matters further, Inari had rushed to save his mother, nearly getting killed himself had the blonde teen had not acted. Wasting no time, Naruto had quickly subdued the two goons and tie them up to ensure they didn't escape before joining the rest of his team at the bridge.

Now, he could only stare as the body of Haku fell lifelessly to the cold hard concrete of the bridge. Finally being overwhelmed by the sheer amount of numbers of Gato's thugs. The fat, greedy man had decided to double cross Zabuza and Haku to prevent from paying the two Missing Nin. Zabuza fell soon after, unable to over come the remaining numbers, despite fighting like a demon and dispatching a fair chunk. Having already been previously severely injured from his fight with Kakashi.

The two biggest obstacles out of his way, Gato began to instruct what was left of his army of goons to get dispose of the males, and capture the females to be broken in later before selling them off. Hearing this, something deep within the blonde had snapped as red chakra began to surge around his body. Being barely aware of his surroundings as rage consumed him, he heard what sounded like two popping sounds that came from the base of his neck.

Releasing a primal roar, Naruto charged forth with reckless abandon. Using the red chakra swirling around him to tear through the remaining thugs, who were now trying to run over each other to escape the raging blonde. His once blue eyes now red with black slit pupils, giving the blonde teen a truly demonic look. Many had attempted to beg for mercy, but their cries fell upon deaf ears as the blonde genin slaked the bridge with their blood.

Gato stood frozen in fear where he stood. Unable to move or cry out as he watched his men get massacred by one boy. A boy who now stood before him, glaring down on the pudgy man with contempt and fury.

"P-p-please!" Gato fell to his knees. "I'll give you anything yo-urk!"

He never got to finish as the red chakra swirled around him and ripped him apart. Throwing his severed limbs in all directions. Once done, Naruto turned to look towards the remaining conscious members of his team before bending over and clutching his head in pain before his eyes rolled back into his head and he collapsed on the ground.

"Wha-what just happened Kakashi-sensei?" Sakura stammered.

"I don't know." Kakashi replied, keeping his Sharingan active as he cautiously approached the still form of Naruto. Not noticing the subtle glow on the back of the young blondes neck.

* * *

**Naruto's Mindscape**

Slowly, Naruto opened his eyes to take in his surroundings. Sitting up, his hand went directly to his necklace, ensuring it was still there. Letting out a sigh of relief upon finding it, he looked around. Craning his head slightly, he could see a large gate behind him.

"What the hell happened to this place?" He asked out loud as he stood up and walked towards the large set of bars.

"**You were kidnapped kit."** A voice boomed from behind the bars, as a pair of large eyes opened and peered down at the boy.

"Kurama?"

"**Good to see you finally remember, kit."** The large being replied as it moved into the light, exposing the head of a large fox. **"I've been trying to break that damn seal for years with the one memory I was able to save before it was sealed away as well."**

"The dream…." Naruto realized. "Morgiana-chan, Rory-chan, Kairi-chan, Aqua-chan, and Xion-chan. My himes."

Slowly, the young blonde slumped down against the bars of the cage. Not the least bit afraid of the massive beast it held. Grasping his necklace as he was finally able to fully remember his girl's faces. Their smiles. The way their eyes would light up when they saw him. As such, tears began to stream down his face. Hitting him even harder, was remembering his mothers face, and above all, her smile.

"Kaa-san." He whispered.

"**Kit,"** Kurama sighed as he extended part of his tail through the bars to comfort his host. **"We need to talk."**

* * *

**Additional Authors Notes:** And done, hope everyone enjoyed the start of this!

The opening chapter for this story is completed and ready to begin a new adventure for our favorite blonde knuckle head. And let me tell you, doing a dream sequence without being able to use facial expressions or even descriptions, nor use any names was more difficult then I originally imagined.

Like I said, this story began as an idea I had when I first started playing Kingdom Hearts. Asking myself, _**'What if Naruto was kidnapped away from his mother by none other then Konoha, and had a memory seal placed upon him to block his memories?'**_

And this story is what came of that question.

Yes, this story will have an Evil/Dark!Hiruzen. As well as a few other characters who will act as antagonists, such as Kakashi. Though Naruto will also gain allies within Konoha as well, like Anko and a few others that have yet to be introduced.

Now, once again, while I have started this story, it will take a back seat to Darkness Falls, as I want to finish that story first before focusing fully on other stories. But, I will try to sneak in an update as much as I can.

With that said, feel free to leave your thoughts and suggestions in the reviews, or hit me with a Private Message.


	2. Chapter 2

**Authors Notes:** I just flipped a coin to see which story to work on next, and this one won the flip. So here we go! Also, really wanted to work on this one again.

So, last chapter we got to see Naruto having a reoccurring dream that actually turned out to be a repressed memory from when he was younger. Our young blonde met and talked with Haku, which of course lead to him thinking of what was said. And finally, with all the emotional tension and seeing the first person truly treat him as a friend die, Naruto finally snapped and with the help of the Kyuubi's chakra, broke the memory seals that were placed on him.

Question is, now that Naruto remembers everything, how will he react?

Also, it should be noted that I will not be using the Japanese names for many of the places and countries. Though I will still be using certain titles, names, and suffixes.

* * *

**Review Corner**

_**Chaos Snow Kitsune – **_Anko is completely unaware of all that have transpired surrounding Naruto. You'll see why in a later chapter. Small hint, he has to do with her own cursed seal.

_**Insanemaelstorm –**_ Well, here is more. Going to see a bit more of Sakura changing in this chapter, though Naruto will be apprehensive of her intentions.

_**HyperA2019 –**_ He will escape eventually, but he needs to bide his time and prepare. Despite having his memories back, and the power of the Kyuubi, he still will not be able to compete with a complete team of ANBU that would no doubt be sent to hunt him down and bring him back.

_**JagyarSupreme – **_I think you may have read too many harem stories that just focused on smut. No need to up the rating to M, unless I actually add scenes that require such an action. As of currently, I have no plans to add lemon scenes to this story. Should that change, I will then place the proper rating and warnings.

_**YeagerMeister31 –**_ Yeah, you get to cheat with your inside knowledge, but I haven't told you everything I have planned just yet, mwhahahaha!

**Harem **– Anko, Aqua, Kairi, Koyuki, Morgiana, Rory, Sakura, Xion

A few more will be added later, but I have learned my lesson from Darkness Falls, and the list will cap at 10, max. Eight are already locked in, so only two more slots remain. With that in mind, feel free to make suggestions on who should take the last two spots. It can be characters from other animes, games, and even movies. I will be making a poll of those suggested and leaving it up for you all to chose!

* * *

**Remember Me**

Chapter 2

**Berugakure, 350 Miles North East of Wave**

A young girl with red hair and ocean blue eyes, no older then fourteen stood on the cliff face, over looking the water crashing into the shore. Staring out over the open ocean as tears stained her cheeks as she clutched a photo in her right hand. The photo in question shown her and four other girls, all surrounding a single blonde haired boy with distinctive whisker marks on his cheeks, whom had a large smile on his face. All five had managed to sneak a kiss on the blonde boys cheeks just as the photo was taken. Morgiana and Rory on the boys left, and Aqua, Xion, and herself on the right sided. The photo itself was worn, and faded in some areas, littered with water marks from when she would cry over it.

'_Please, be safe Naruto-kun.'_ Kairi silently prayed, closing her eyes as she clutched the photo, a lone tear escaping her eye. _'Kami, if you're listening. Please, please allow us to be reunited. For all of us, and especially Kushina-sama.'_

It had been just over seven years since Naruto was taken away from them, and while she and the rest of the girls did their best to meet each day like normal, it just felt like their light was gone. The way he would smile and laugh always warmed their hearts and brought them joy. Over the years, Kairi had filled out nicely, growing into an attractive young woman with a slender athletic body. She had abandoned the dresses she once wore as a child, in favor of pink and black bicycle shorts, with a matching hooded sleeveless vest that exposed just enough of her developing cleavage, along with a black pair of kunoichi sandals.

Letting out a sad sigh, she turned from her spot on the cliff face and began to make her trek back towards where the others were gathered. It was then that she felt a very familiar chakra source erupting from the south west, prompting her to look in that direction. Her heart swelling with hope from feeling the familiar chakra source.

'_Kurama-sama… Naruto-kun!'_

In the blink of an eye, the red haired teen disappeared in a water shunshin.

Not even a full minute later, Kairi arrived in one of the villages many parks, where the others had gathered.

"Did you feel it!?" She asked, a tone of excitement, and above all, hope, in her voice.

"We did." Xion commented, earning nods from the others.

Like Kairi, Xion had filled out nicely over the past seven years. Her hair had only grown out slightly as she insisted on keeping it short, though her bangs now covered one of her beautiful golden yellow eyes. Aside from that, she sported her usual black hooded cloak that hid her standard ANBU style gear that she wore. A simple black pair of shorts, and sleeveless vest, along with a pair of knee high kunoichi combat sandals. Also like her red haired friend, Xion had gained a more athletic body due to all her training.

"No doubt about it, that was Kurama-sama's chakra signature." The pink haired teen Morginana, stated. Her pink eyes sparkling with a life not seen in them for nearly seven years.

Of the five girls, Morgiana had grown the most, especially in her chest area, giving her a rather large bust for her age. Aside from that, she had trained rigorously throughout the years, specializing in taijutsu and adding her wind affinity into her style. Though her fashion style had not changed much over the years, still wearing her white battle dress with an orange cinch tied around her waist, and a simple pair of white shorts underneath, accompanied with a pair of brown kunoichi sandals.

Rory, whom was leaning against her halberd like weapon merely silently nodded in agreement with her pink haired friend. A sense of excitement bubbling up inside her, as well as hope. Hope that she and her other soon to be sister-wives would be reunited with their loved one.

Like the others, she had grown into a beautiful and deadly young woman over the years, earning the nickname of Rory the Reaper. Her long black hair flowing in the breeze while her piercing red eyes took in everything around her. Her outfit was unique among her soon to be sister-wives. Sporting a black gothic lolita like dress with red trimmings. Though the bottom half was a combination of a pair of shorts woven into the dress. A large bow adorned the top of her head, giving her the appearance of having fox like ears. To finish off her outfit, she wore a black pairing of stockings that stopped halfway up her thighs, and a pair of red shinobi combat boots.

"We should report to Kushina-sama." Aqua suggested, with the others quickly agreeing. "She would have no doubt felt it as well."

With blue hair and equally blue eyes, Aqua had matured greatly over the years. Usually being the pillar of strength for the others after Naruto's disappearance. Remaining calm and collected in even the most dire of situations, becoming the voice of reason for the group. Sporting a purplish-black high collared halter top with two pink intersecting belts crossing over the center of her chest and a pair of black shorts. A pair of black stockings that stop half way up her thigh and a black pair of shinobi combat boots round out her outfit.

With one final nod in agreement, each of the five girls disappeared in their signature shunshin technique. Kaira once again disappeared in a swirl of water. Xion, in a flash of lightening. Rory in a swirl of fire. Aqua in a mist of snow, and finally Morgiana in a gust of wind.

**Berukage Tower**

"So you all felt it as well." The red haired woman spoke as she gazed out the window that over looked a good portion of the village she now lead before finally turning to look at the five girls who were now kneeling before her, prompting the red haired woman to roll her eyes. "I told you five you don't have to do that. I'm going to be your mother in law, dattabane!"

"Sorry, Kushina-sam…." Xion was cut off by another glare from the red haired woman.

"Anyways," Aqua interrupted, catching the Berukage's attention. "We felt the chakra signature coming from the south west."

"Right," Kushina turned her attention to a large map that was spread out over the desk. Upon feeling the Kyuubi's chakra signature, the red haired woman knew the five girls would soon arrive and had prepared accordingly. "and according to the map, the most likely place it could have originated from is Wave country.

As if to emphasize her point, Kushina had made a line with her finger from the location of the island their village was on, and dragged her finger down diagonally, until it reached where the small island know as Wave was located.

"We're going to go find him and bring him home, right?" Morgiana inquired, which prompted the other four teens to look expectantly towards the Berukage.

Kushina sighed, before addressing the five.

"Your mission, is to go to Wave, talk to the villagers there and get what information you can. Afterwards, you are to return here to report your findings, no matter how bad they may be." Kushina instructed, receiving a nod from each of the girls in front of her. "However, I stress that you keep your hopes tempered. My sochi may not be there when you arrive. But, if he is there, bring him home."

"Understood Kushina-sama." Kaira replied with a small bow of her head, prompting the others to do the same.

"You leave early tomorrow." The red head village leader stated. "Now, go and pack and prepare yourselves."

Bidding their good byes, the five departed the office to prepare for their mission. A mixture of excitement, hope, and a little bit a fear simmering between all of them. Leaving the red haired woman alone, who finally collapsed in her chair and laid her head down on the desk. A lone tear escaping her eye.

'_Please, be safe sochi and come back home, please.' _She silently prayed, lifting her head up to gaze out over the village once more from his desk.

* * *

**Wave Country**

The young blonde teen stood silently over two marked graves, one of which was identified with a mask, and the other with a massive sword being used as a grave stone. Saying a silent prayer in hopes that the two fallen shinobi's would find what they desired in the afterlife. Reluctantly, Kakashi had allowed him to give the two a proper burial, using their personal items as grave markers. Sasuke had scoffed at the concept of honoring a fallen enemy whilst Sakura had remained uncharacteristically silent the past few days.

The pink haired girl had even halted her advances towards the raven haired emo, much to the entire teams surprise. Though even more surprising for Naruto was that she appeared to be watching him silently from a distance, a look of concern etched on her face. This of course only made the young blonde even more apprehensive of her, not trusting her intentions. He had been lured in by false concern in the past when he was only ten years old. A mistake that had nearly cost him his life.

Then there was his sensei, Kakashi. After the incident in the forest, the masked pervert had snuck over to his cot while he was sleeping, ensuring the seals were still present on the young blondes neck. Of course at the time, they were still active. However, after the fight on the bridge, the silver haired jonin had checked once more, only to find that once again, the seals were still present. Unknown to him, the 'seals' on Naruto were now fake on merely simulated the effects, even able to fool the Sharingan, and possible even a Byakugan. Leaving Kakashi unaware that the young blonde had over powered the seals, and had now gained back all of his memories.

Naruto had to hand it to Kurama, the fox had faked the seals perfectly. Now it was just up to him to keep up the act. Though he mentally shuddered about proclaiming about being Hokage and acting like a complete fool. Though, perhaps he could use this mission as an excuse to tone it down a little. After all, he had just taken his first life on the first mission outside of the village. The old monkey surely would expect some mental change after that, right?

Of course, all of this made the young blonde recall his discussion with Kurama after he had passed out on the bridge.

_**Flashback no Jutsu**_

_It seemed like hours had passed before Naruto had finally calmed down enough to talk to the large fox. Though in reality, it had only been around half an hour. Though during that time the blonde was conflicted with himself. Naruto had felt like he had abandoned his girls, and his mother, despite not really having a choice in the matter._

"_**How are you holding up kit?"** Kurama asked, after minutes of silence had passed between the two._

"_I don't know, Kurama." He finally answered after a handful of seconds. "__I'm still trying to wrap my mind around how this could have happened."_

_The large fox sighed as he laid his massive head down near the cage doors. He knew his blonde host was not going to like the answer, but the boy deserved to know the truth. He just hoped Naruto wouldn't act too irrationally._

"_**In short, we were betrayed."** Kurama began with another sigh. **"You were trusted alone with the bastard, Kakashi that night. He lured you into an isolated training field under the promise of teaching you one of your father's techniques…."**_

"_And he slapped a seal on the back of my neck instead." Naruto growled, remember the events of that night._

"_**Yeah. Except I know he didn't make the seal."** The fox stated with narrowed eyes. **"That seal was from a Fuinjutsu grand master, and there is only one who would be stupid enough to invoke your mother's wrath."**_

"_That perverted bastard." The blonde clenched his fists before slamming them down into the water in anger. "It was bad enough with him perving on my hime's, but to betray my mother and father like that. I'll rip his balls off and shove them down his throat!"_

"_You'll be lucky to get a chance once your mother finds out." Kurama laughed as he imagined the horror the red haired woman would unleash upon the perverted toad sage. She wasn't called the Crimson Death for nothing._

_This of course earned a small chuckle from the blonde, like the large fox behind him, he was imagining different scenarios his mother would put the old fool through._

"_So what now?" Naruto finally asked. "Once that masked bastard realizes the seals are broken he will just subdue me again and have them reapplied."_

"_**Oh ye of little faith, kit."** Kurama laughed, before he continued with a short explanation. **"As soon as they broke, I placed false ones in their place. They will simulate the same chakra pattern and action. ****Also, now that I am aware of their intentions, I can block further seals from working as they should.****"**_

"_So that means…."_

"_**You're free from the seals, kit."** The fox smiled. **"However, it will be up to you to maintain the illusion until we can escape this cesspool of a village."**_

_Naruto merely nodded, understanding what his partner was saying. Even though he had his memories back as well as the old lessons his mother and others had taught him, he couldn't tip his hand. He would have to maintain the illusion he was still an idiot._

"_Well," Naruto smiled as he stood up and turned to look towards the large fox. "I am sure with these traumatic events on this mission, I am expected to tone it down a little."_

"_**Perhaps kit."** Kurama chuckled. **"Just try and find a balance so you don't attract too much unwanted attention."**_

"_Agreed." The blonde nodded before looking around his mindscape once more, before shaking his head in disgust. "But first, let's take care of this place."_

_Closing his eyes, he began to focus on his surroundings. Allowing the sewer system to fade away, soon to be replaced with a large forested area, complete with a meadow clearing and a babbling brook cutting through the center of it all. Off in the distance, a large waterfall could be seen pouring into a large lake that the brook was connected to. For added measure, the young blonde also added an assortment of wildlife to his new mindscape, similar to how he had it structure before he was kidnapped._

"_There we go, much better." Naruto smiled, turning to his companion who was no longer trapped behind the cage. A collar hanging firmly around his neck to act as the seal._

"_Thanks kit, I really missed this place." The large fox smiled as he took in his new, yet familiar surroundings._

"_No, thank you Kurama." The blonde gave a soft smile. "Even if I didn't know it at the time, that dream I had every night gave me hope that things would get better."_

"_**You're welcome kit."** Kurama smiled before it turned into a sadistic grin as he gazed at the blonde boy before him. **"Now, let's talk training. Because you are severely out of practice with your skills, no thanks to that old monkey."**_

_A shiver ran down Naruto's spine, as he recalled the foxes training regiment. Knowing full well he was in for a world of pain and suffering for the immediate future. Still, he would meet it head on and get stronger. So that one day, he would reunite with his hime's and his mother._

**Flashback no Jutus Dispel**

Naruto was taken out of his reminiscing when he felt a lone chakra signature behind him. Letting out a soft sigh, he kept quiet until his pink haired team mate reached where he stood. No need to let others know of his sensory capabilities. Though he frowned slightly as he felt her primary emotion was concern.

"Um, did you know them?" Sakura asked as she stood next to him, looking down at the graves. Though she mentally wanted to slap herself for asking such a ridiculous question.

"Actually, I only met Haku two weeks ago, when I slept outside." The blonde replied, though in a solemn tone, seeing no reason to hide his meeting with the ice user. "Though at the time, I didn't know he worked with Zabuza."

The pinkette was about to inquire further, but was shaken from her thoughts when she heard the blonde next to her chuckle. Seeing her look of confusion, the jinchuriki decided to let her in on what he found funny.

"I was just remembering when I first met Haku." He chuckled again. "I actually thought he was a girl, because of how…. cute he looked."

Sakura couldn't help but giggle as she imagined it. Though it did help validate the blondes story when she recalled that Sasuke commented on Naruto talking with a girl out in the woods, so it appeared the look even fooled Sasuke.

"So, how are you holding up… after, you know." She tentatively asked.

"Why do you care, Sakura?" The blonde asked, causing the pinkette to flinch slightly at his tone. Also feeling a slight plain in her chest at the lack of the usual -chan suffix that had once accompanied her name.

"I… Look, I'm sorry." She sighed, knowing what she had to do. Her and her inner self had had a long discussion and reflected of their past interactions with the blonde, and realized just why the boy felt the way he did, and they were to blame for it, partially. "I know I gave you the impression that I don't care about you, and I've been a complete bitch towards you."

Naruto's eyes widened slightly at her words. _'Is she really….?'_

'_**I think she is kit, I feel actual sincerity in her words.'**_ Kurama replied.

"Despite that, I would care if something happened to you." The pinkette continued. "And I am sure there are those in the village that would as well."

"Very few would." Naruto replied automatically, causing Sakura to frown slightly. _'__And one of them wouldn't be for the reasons she thinks.'_

"An-anyways, Kakashi-sensei wanted me to tell you that we will be returning back to the village in two days, once the bridge is finished." Sakura stated and turned to leave the blonde haired genin alone.

Though the pinkette was a little disheartened that the discussion didn't carry on for as long as she had hoped it would. She truly did want to make an effort to actually get to know him, instead of just ignoring him like she had in the past.

"Thank you, Sakura." Naruto finally spoke, though not turning to face her.

Hearing this, a small smile formed on the pinkette's face before she ran off to rejoin her sensei, and perhaps ask Sasuke for a date once they got back to the village.

* * *

**Konoha, Four Days Later**

Kakashi let out a quiet sigh as he thought of the report he was going to have to deliver to the Hokage. First and foremost was the events surrounding the jinchuriki. In between the blondes shift in attitude during the tree walking incident, which had affected his pink haired student. He had checked the seals that night, and was relieved to find them still in place, which only reaffirmed his earlier excuse to Sakura that the stress of the jinchuriki's first mission outside the village had forced him to reevaluate certain aspects in his life.

Of course the villagers with the way the villagers had treated the boy, the masked jonin wasn't surprised that the blonde was finally starting to take a more cynical outlook on those around him. However, it needed to be curbed a little so the boy would remain docile and loyal to the village. At least there were a few that genuinely treated the boy well. Like the father and daughter duo at the ramen stand, Iruka, and the Tokubetsu Jonin, Anko. Kakashi still didn't know how those two met, but didn't care as the Hokage didn't deem it a threat to the weapons development.

That lead to the jonin's next problem. The incident on the bridge when Naruto had tapped into the foxes power and slaughtered Gato and his men after they had killed Zabuza and his little helper. No doubt the realization of taking a life still weighed heavy on the boys mind, as he had barely said a word the entire trip back, having nearly completely ignored Sakura, only giving her short replies when the pink haired genin would attempt to start a conversation with him.

This was troubling to Kakashi, as it showed that the blonde had all but given up on his crush on the girl, which threw a wrench into the masked jonin's plan to utilize his feelings for her to manipulate him further towards to Hokage's goal of turning the blonde into the villages weapon, once he was broken enough into a form of submission and loyalty towards the village.

"You three are dismissed." Kakashi stated after his team and himself arrived inside the village. "I'll report the missions success to the Hokage."

"Hai Kakashi-sensei." Two of them replied, while the third merely nodded and slowly began to make his way towards his apartment.

Meanwhile, Sakura was torn on what to do. As both boys on her team had split off into different direction, forcing her to have to chose. Should she follow her crush and obsession in hopes of getting a date with the last Uchiha, or should she make good on her promise and try to talk with Naruto more. Frowning slightly, she reached her decision and walked in the same direction Naruto did.

Kakashi had noticed this, but said nothing. If she inadvertently re-ignites the crush he once had on her, it would be all the better and would make him easier to manipulate down the road with the lure of a relationship. Though in reality, the masked jonin already knew the Hokage wouldn't allow any form of serious relationship to form with the boy until it was needed, and then they would just get a volunteer to become impregnated with the jinchuriki's child to pass the Kyuubi to, once Naruto no longer had a purpose. Shrugging it off, he quickly made his way towards the Hokage's Tower.

It didn't take him long to arrive at the tower, jumping into the office through the window like he normally did when he had to report something. Immediately, Hiruzen looked up from his desk, setting his sights on the masked jonin that now stood in front of him.

"Report Kakashi." The elder man ordered.

Taking a deep breath, the silver haired man begin to relay his detailed report of what had transpired while on the mission.

* * *

**Sakura**

The pink haired kunoichi couldn't help but feel a swell of anger as she followed her blonde haired team mate. Initially, she had wanted to quickly reach him and try to talk some more, but her inner self had suggested to hang back. Which is the reason for her current mood.

While tailing the blonde, she had noticed the glares sent the boys way by nearly every villager they had passed. Some even whispering to one another how Naruto should have died on his first mission outside the village. She had even overheard a select few bragging about beating the boy to near death when he was younger. Hearing this, the pinkette clenched her fist.

'_He was right.'_ Sakura mentally sighed. _'No one in the village would care if he died, and even more so, they would celebrate his death. But why?'_

'_**I don't know.'**_ Inner Sakura replied with a frown of her own. _**'But I don't like this. Their words, what they're saying is just horrible.'**_

'_There has to be some that would miss him, right?' _The pinkette thought with a frown. Though as she thought back, she realized that literally everyone in their graduating class had constantly made fun of the blonde and at one point or another, had bullied him. The only exception being the shy Hyuga heiress.

Snapping out of her thoughts, she noticed the blonde teen had been stopped by a slightly older woman with purple haired tied into a fanned pony tail, dressed in a tan trench coat, and a full body mesh outfit, accompanied with an orange skirt. Sakura couldn't help but frown slightly, not trusting the woman after overhearing what the other villagers had said. Though was surprised when the woman's face went from happy and smiling, to shock and sadness as she brought the blonde into a hug and began to whisper things into this ear, which earned a nod from Naruto.

'_**I guess she is one of the ones who actually care for him.'**_ Inner Sakura pointed out.

'_That's good, but still, out of everyone in this village, only one so far.'_ Sakura sighed as she watched the purple haired woman lead Naruto into a different direction. Frowning slightly, she decided that it would be no use to try and approach him now.

'_**Well, he did say he liked ramen.'**_ Her inner self reminded the pinkette. _**'Maybe we should stop by there and see if we can find anything.'**_

With a new destination set, Sakura took off in the direction of Ichiraku's Ramen. Perhaps tomorrow, she would be able to talk with her blonde team mate, now that she had a better perspective of what he has to go through on a daily basis.

* * *

**Hokage Tower**

"And that is what happened." Kakashi had finally finished his report. Having told Hiruzen every small detail. From Naruto's shift in attitude, to him snapping and killing all of Gato's men, as well as Gato himself on the bridge.

"You ensure the seals are still active, correct?"

"Correct, Hokage-sama." The masked jonin replied. "After both incidents. The seals are still working perfectly."

"Good." Hiruzen sighed in relief. The last thing the old man needed was the village's weapon to regain his memories. Even worse would be if Kushina had found out where her missing son had been all these years.

"What should we do about his change of attitude and him taking his first life?" Kakashi inquired.

"Nothing for now." The elderly man responded. "I believe you are correct in your assessment about the boy. If anything, it is better if he becomes more cynical, as the weapon will be less hesitant to kill when commanded to do so."

"And of his views of the villagers celebrating his death?"

"All according to plan, it will make him feel grateful that he is allowed to live." Hiruzen replied, taking a puff from his pipe. "Still, do what you can to down play it."

"Of course, Hokage-sama." The silver haired jonin answered. "I will do my best."

"However, for the next couple of months, I will not be assigning your team any more missions outside the village." Hiruzen stated. "Mostly to avoid any further incidents for the time being. The last thing we need is for Kushina to learn that we have Naruto."

Kakashi couldn't help but shudder at the thought. Should the woman discover that he had helped orchestrate her son's kidnapping, death would be a preferable fate over what that woman would inflict upon him.

"Understood, Hokage-sama." He gulped, earning a nod from the old man.

"For now, you're team has a week off, you are dismissed."

"Thank you, Hokage-sama." Kakashi bowed before disappearing into a leaf shunshin.

'_Hopefully you have developed a taste for blood __after your first kill__, young Naruto-kun.'_ Hiruzen darkly grinned at the thought. _'Because once you have fully submitted to me, I will turn your power towards your home village, making Konoha the strongest of all the Hidden Villages.'_

* * *

**W****ave ****Country****, ****Two Days Later**

The five teenage girls had not been in the best of moods. Due to a small squall that had developed during their boat ride, they had been forced to dock on the mainland, and travel by foot to Wave Country, which had set them back by a day. However, once they arrived at the massive bridge, their mood had quickly dissipated, replaced with joy and happiness as they read the plaque that greeted travelers.

The Great Naruto Bridge.

"He-he could actually be here." Kairi commented, tears forming in her eyes as she placed her hand over his name on the plaque.

"Come on, let's see if anyone knows anything." Morgiana stated, earning an agreeing nod from the girls.

Quickly the five teens ran across the bridge with renewed speed. A small part of them holding out hope that their blonde fiance would still be within the village, so that they could take him back home. It didn't take long for the five to finish crossing the bridge, arriving inside a quint looking village with people happily bustling to and fro, as they went about their daily lives.

"Ah, welcome to Wave." A voice spoke up from behind them, prompting them to turn to the one speaking to them. Seeing an old bespectacled man with a large beard and dark eyes, wearing a sleeveless shirt, accompanied by a towel hanging loosely off his neck. "Name's Tazuna, what can I do for you?"

"Good afternoon, Tazuna-san." Aqua spoke up as she approached the elderly man, offering him a kind smile. "We were hoping someone could help us."

"Depends on what you're asking, but I will do my best um…."

"Aqua." The blue haired teen smiled before gesturing towards the other four. "And these are Kairi, Xion, Morgiana, and Rory. We come from Berukagure."

"That's a bit of a travel." Tazuna observed. Hell, if he had the money and the means, he would have hired a team of Beru shinobi, as the village was considered the strongest of them all. Though the old bridge builder was happy that things had turned out as well as they had, despite the initial set back. "So what brings you to Wave?"

"Well…." Aqua began, but was interrupted by Kairi.

"Can you tell us about the bridge?" The red head inquired.

"You like it?" The old man beamed. "Built it myself!"

"It is quiet the piece of architecture." Xion smiled, seeing the old man proud of his accomplishment.

"Yup, though it would have never been completed if it wasn't for the Konoha shinobi." Tazuna commented, though at the word 'Konoha', the girls narrowed their eyes just slightly. Already not liking the implications. "Especially that blonde kid."

"Could you perhaps tell us more about the name of the bridge?" Aqua ventured.

"You mean Naruto?" The old bridge builder questioned, adopting a thinking pose as he struggled to remember the blondes last name.. "Uzakaze… Uzumayi…."

"Uzumaki perhaps?" Rory offered.

"That's it, Naruto Uzumaki." Tazuna smiled. "Good boy, really helped our village reclaim our hope. That is why we named the bridge in his honor."

"Is he….?" Morgiana asked, fearing that the bridge was named after the blonde boy to honor his memory, due to falling in battle.

"No, he left with his team almost a week ago." The old man replied, not noticing the sigh of relief that seemed to echo amongst the girls.

"Did he look like this?" Kairi inquired, offering the photo she always had with her. "It's a bit old, though."

Tazuna frowned as he took hold of the photo and narrowed his eyes. He could see the five girls in front of him all surrounding a younger version of the blonde teen that had helped their village so much and given hope to his grandson once more. The old bridge builder could clearly see the boy, along with the girls were extremely happy the day of the photo. Not the lonely teen that had left no more then a week ago.

"Why don't we continue this conversation back at my house." The old man sighed, already seeing the writing on the wall. "My daughter will also be able to answer your questions."

Nodding, the six of them quietly made their way through the village until they reached a small house at the water's edge. Opening the door, he invited the five in, before entering behind them.

"Tsunami!" He called out. "I'm home, and we have guests!"

"Coming!" A feminine voice called out from the kitchen, before the owner of the voice stepped into view, seeing the give girls that had accompanied her father, she gave a polite bow and welcomed them to her home.

"These girls are looking for Naruto." Tazuna informed his daughter with a serious look in his eye.

"Oh, how come?" The blunette inquired as she lead the group into the dinning room, waiting for each of them to claim a chair to sit in.

"Well, we're kind of his….fiances." Aqua chuckled, earning a surprised gasp from the bridge builders daughter.

With a nod of approval from Kairi, Tazuna passed the photo the red head had given him to his daughter. As she gazed down at it, an expression of realization had washed over her face as she silently passed the photo back to the red headed teen.

"Seven years ago, he was kidnapped from our village." Morgiana informed the father and daughter, causing the old man's eyes to narrow. Meanwhile, Tsunami bowed her head in acknowledgment.

"And with what we have learned, we now know who took him." Xion finished, with a slight scowl.

Meanwhile, Rory was clenching and relaxing her fists in anger at what they had learned, with Morgiana adopting a similar train of thought and desire to go to Konoha and smash the village to pieces and bring back their lover.

"But why?" Tsunami inquired. "Why would Konoha kidnap him?"

Frowning, the five girls looked to one another, before Aqua let out a small sigh and looked the bridge builders daughter in the eye.

"Naruto-kun is the jinchuriki of the nine tailed fox, Kyuubi. A being a great power" She explained. "We can only surmise that Konoha wanted that power for themselves, despite Berugakure being allied with the village."

"Not for long, as soon as Kushina-sama finds out, she will want to declare war on them." Xion stated with a slight scoff, earning a nod of agreement among the girls.

"That explains what happened on the bridge." Tazuna commented, earning a curious look from the others, remembering that his daughter was unaware of what had transpired during the final battle.

"When Gato and his men showed up and killed the two that were working for him, Naruto seemed to snap. Having a red glow around him as he… slaughtered the rest of Gato's thugs, and finally Gato himself."

Hearing this, the girls gasped in surprise and in mourning. That their fiance had to deal with his first kill alone. They could only hope that Kurama was able to comfort the blonde in their place.

"We should probably head back and inform Kushina-sama of what we discovered here." Morgiana offered as she stood up from the table.

"It's going to be dark soon." Tsunami informed the pink haired teen. "Why don't you girls stay here the night, and head out first thing in the morning?"

"That would be appreciated, Tsunami-san." Aqua replied.

"Very well." The bluenette smiled. "I will show you to the spare room."

* * *

**Berugakure, Two Days Later**

"Did you find anything?" Kushina asked as the five girls entered her office.

"We did Kushina-sama." Xion answered. "And you're not going to like it."

"What am I not going to like, Xion-chan?" The red haired Berukage inquired, narrowing her eyes slightly, feeling a sense of anxiety swelling up inside her.

"Konoha has Naruto-kun." Rory blatantly stated with a scowl.

"What!?"

"It's true, Kushina-sama." Aqua sighed. "When we arrived in Wave, we met an old bridge builder whom had recently hired a team from Konoha. With that team was Naruto-kun."

Slowly, the blue haired teen relayed all that they had learned on their trip to Wave Country about Naruto. Neither of the women in the room could resist shedding a few tears that the blonde had to go through his first killing almost completely alone. Though the red haired village leader was happy to hear that her son had a bridge named after him, to honor him.

"Did you learn who was on this team from Konoha?" Kushina inquired.

"Yes ma'am." The blue haired teen replied. "It was Team 7, comprised of Naruto-kun, Sasuke Uchiha, and Sakura Haruno. Lead by Kakashi Hatake."

At the jonin sensei's name, Kushina had shattered the corners of her desk where she was gripping it, causing the five girls to jump slightly.

"That bastard!" She seethed. It was no coincidence that the masked jonin was on the same team as her son, and not recognize him. Not to mention, Kakashi was the last person to had seen Naruto before he had disappeared that fateful night. It became clear that her late husbands former student had a hand in her sons kidnapping.

"What should we do, Kushina-sama?" Kairi asked.

"We should go to Konoha, smash in their gates and bring our beloved back home!" Rory exclaimed, slamming her halberd down, creating cracks in the floor.

"No." Kushina replayed in an eerily, calm voice. Contrast to her actions just seconds before.

"But Kushina-sama, they have Naruto-kun!" The long black haired teen argued.

"I know, Rory-chan, I know." Kushina sighed as she sat back down. "Next month, Konoha will be hosting the Chuunin Exams. You five will be entering."

"But we're already Chuunin." Xion pointed out, confused at where her soon to be mother in law was going with this. Though their rank was in name only, as in terms of actual combat prowess and technique, they were all at least mid to high jonin.

"Konoha is unaware of your rank, so it is the perfect guise." Kushina stated. "The main objective is going to be to find my sochi. However, you must wait until you have entered the village and assess the situation. There is a small chance that the old bastard won't let Naruto-kun compete."

"Of course, Kushina-sama." Morgiana replied. "We'll prepare for the exams and train hard to bring Naruto-kun back home with us."

"Very well." She smiled. "I know this has been difficult, but soon, he will be back with us where he belongs, and Konoha will pay for their transgressions."

One by one, the five girls departed the office to prepare for the next month. Aiming to train extra hard to ensure their blonde lover returns to their arms once more, and to never let go. Though Rory and Morgiana still hoped to dish out some forms of revenge against the cesspool of a village.

* * *

**Additional Authors Notes:** And done!

Bit of jumping around between Naruto's fiances, Wave, and finally Konoha. Also, Berugakure is a village of my own imagination, Berugakure meaning Village Hidden in the Veil. I am kind of modeling it after Esthar from Final Fantasy VIII, with a touch of Alexandria from Final Fantasy IX. More technological then the other Hidden Villages, with only the Land of Snow/Spring being able to compete with them in terms of technology.

Also, I am taking Sakura a slightly different path with her arc in this story. She still has a crush on Sasuke of course, but due to Naruto's cold attitude now, she was forced to assess her own involvement in our favorite blondes change of personality. Next chapter or two will focus a bit on her trying to actually be a friend to him.

And lastly, we got to see some of Hiruzen's plans for Naruto, too bad for him the seals are broken, but how will Naruto evade the all seeing crystal ball?

Anyways, hope everyone enjoyed this chapter! Feel free to leave your thoughts and comments in the reviews, or hit me up with a private message!


	3. Chapter 3

**Authors notes:** Back at it again!

Alright first up, a new poll is up to vote for the last two spots in the harem. So feel free to head over and vote for the two girls you want to fill the last slots. After much consideration, I couldn't add everyone that was suggested. Sadly, one that I had decided to omit from the poll was Hinata, due to her popularity among fans and I wanted to give some of the other girls a fair shot. Since Hinata would easily overshadow everyone else in the polls. However, she will still remain close to our blonde hero.

So, in the last chapter we finally got to see how Naruto's fiances had grown over the years. From playful children to grown, deadly young women. Also got to see Kurama's and Naruto's conversation and the revelation that it was Kakashi himself who had a hand in Naruto's kidnapping. It will not be fun for him now that Kushina is aware of his part in it.

We also got to see a bit of Hiruzen's plans for the boy to break his will and turn his power towards his own home village in a power play to wipe out any competition to Konoha's superiority. Too bad for the old monkey, the seals are broken and Naruto is plotting against him as well as planning to escape the village.

Then we have Sakura who last we saw, was going to approach Ayame and her father about Naruto. What will she learn? And even more, how will it affect her outlook of the village as a whole?

And lastly, Kushina is now fully aware of Konoha's involvement with the kidnapping of her son, and is currently plotting to get him back. Usually she would no doubt march her army to Konoha and lay siege to it, but she is taking a more subtle approach and plans to hurt the village in ways beyond physical damage.

* * *

**Review Corner**

_**SelenetheNerd –**_ Well, here you go! I hope you enjoy this chapter.

_**Thor94 –**_ Naruto's departure will happen during the invasion, or rather immediately after. Though Kushina will not unleash her wrath on Konoha during the invasion, oh no. She has something much more diabolical planned for the village. Something that involves a little black book of dirty secrets.

_**Squall321 –**_ All three perverts will be severely punished in some of the worst ways imaginable. I think you will love what I got in mind for Naruto to do to Jiraiya. Let's just say his inspiration for Icha Icha will be ruined for life.

_**YeagerMeister31 –**_ Yup, Sakura has had time to reflect on her past actions and is aiming to correct them and make it up to the blonde. Kakashi is going to be screwed and not in the nice way when his punishment comes. As for Yugao, fear not, she is safe and is one of those that truly care for Naruto and was the main one to save him most of the time from the mobs. Though for the time being, she is in the dark about the Hokage's hand in it all.

_**Einjeru Hatake –**_ Here is more, please enjoy.

_**Vigriff – **_Oh, I have some doozies planned for all three of the major culprits. Though between them all, I think Jiraiya is going to get it the worst with what I have planned.

**Harem -** Anko, Aqua, Kairi, Koyuki, Morgiana, Rory, Sakura, Xion

Be sure to vote for who will fill the last to slots. Once they are filled, no other girls will be added nor considered for a romantic relationship. Though some sisterly bonding could occur.

* * *

**Remember Me**

Chapter 3

**Konoha, One Week Later**

Sakura let out a sigh as she approached her teams usual training ground. It had been exactly one week since they had returned to the village from their first C-rank mission, that had turned into an A-rank, and throughout the entire week, she had been unable to even find Naruto at all. It was like he had completely disappeared into thin air. It was also concerning to her that her blonde team mate had not frequented the ramen stand either, which of course caused Ayame to worry as well.

During the pinkette's week long break, Sakura had begun to frequent the ramen stand more and more, somewhat breaking her diet after her initial visit to the stand the day they had returned to the village, however now she could understand why her blonde teammate loved the stuff. Though what she had learned from the ramen waitress when she inquired about Naruto still haunted her dreams at night, as Ayame had reluctantly explained a rather brief history about the blonde boy. The nights her and her father would find him bloodied and beaten in an alleyway, left to die.

How for every year, for the past six years on the boys birthday, her and her father would close down the shop and search the streets for the blonde. Each time dreading what condition they would find him in. To make matters worse, they had learned the hard way that they couldn't take him to the hospital due to a majority of the staff refusing to treat the boy, and those that did had used it as an excuse to inflict more pain on him. Thus, forcing the father and daughter duo to do what they could to treat his injuries in the back of their own stand.

With great reluctance, Ayame had recounted how they had found Naruto crucified, burned, poisoned, and severely mutilated. Though for some reason, within a day or two, he was always back to full health with his goofy smile and loud attitude, proclaiming he was going to be the Hokage and force everyone to acknowledge him.

'_I wonder where he has been all week?'_ Sakura mentally asked herself.

'_**I don't know.'**_ Inner Sakura sighed. _**'Perhaps we sh**__**ould go to where he lives?**__**'**_

'_Good idea, Inner.'_ The pinkette mentally nodded, though frowned slightly when she realized she didn't know where Naruto lived. Only that it was somewhere in the Red Light District, which didn't really do much to reduce the search area.

On the other hand, she knew exactly where Sasuke lived, even though it wasn't hard due to the raven haired teen residing in his clan's compound still. Even further, she knew everywhere he would go, and at which times due to the last Uchiha falling into a standard routine each day. What the pinkette had not yet realized, was that throughout the entire week, she hadn't once sought out the source of her obsession, instead focusing solely on finding Naruto and hanging out with Ayame when her search would turn up nothing.

Of course she couldn't say her week was not entirely uneventful, as a few days ago she had an uncomfortable confrontation with the purple haired young woman who had greeted Naruto upon his return to the village.

**Flashback no Jutsu**

_Sakura had let out another sigh as she had spent the last few hours wandering around the village in hopes of finding her blonde team mate. Turning up another fruitless search, she had opted to visit Ichiraku's again, in hopes the blonde would turn up there. Well, that was half of the reason. She had yet to admit it to herself, but she had immediately grown to love the ramen from the stand._

_Not paying attention to anything in general, the pinkette rounded the corner before feeling a slight pain at the base of her neck before her world turned black. Vaguely feeling someone pick her up and carrying her off into some unknown direction to her._

_Nearly half an hour later, did the young pinkette return to the world of the living, only to find herself tied to a tree out in the middle of the forest. Quickly snapping her eyes open, she frantically began to look around her surroundings in an attempt to get her bearings._

"_Ah, you're finally awake." A feminine voice spoke up from just behind her, just enough that they remained out of sight._

"_Where am I?" She asked, only to receive a sadistic giggle._

"_You're in my personal playground, pinky." The voice replied, getting closer to her._

"_Wha-what do you want?" _

"_I want to know why you've been looking for my Naruto-kun." The purple haired snake mistress stated, rounding the tree the girl was tied to and standing front of her. Playing with a kunai that she held in her hands._

"_Wha-what?" Was the pinkette's intelligent response._

"_I didn't stutter pinky." Anko retorted, narrowing her eyes towards her prisoner. "Why have you been looking for Naruto-kun? Aren't you suppose to be a fangirl for that duck ass emo?"_

"_I-I want to be his friend." The pinkette replied in a soft voice as she hung her head, ignoring the jab at Sasuke. Though loud enough for the snake mistress to hear, causing to narrow her eyes even more._

"_And why the change of heart?" Anko inquired. "As I recall, you were a bitch towards him throughout the entire academy, and even after you were put on a team together. Don't know why the gaki had a crush on you, when he could of done so much better."_

_Sakura could only wince at her words, and the coldness in her voice, as well as a slight pain in her chest when the snake mistress told her that Naruto could have done better then her, in terms of girls to be interested in and have a crush on._

"_He doesn't have a crush on me anymore." She all but whispered in sadness as a tears threatened to fall from her eyes. She didn't know why, but it hurt her to the core that she was no longer Sakura-chan to the blonde. Now, she was just simply Sakura._

"_Good, may be hope for the gaki yet." Anko replied with no shame nor care if she hurt the pinkette's feelings. "But that still doesn't answer my question, why the sudden change of heart?"_

"_It was something he said to me during our mission." Sakura replied, lifting her head to look the snake mistress in the eye. "And I want to prove him wrong. I want to show him that there are others who care for him."_

_Silence hung between them as Anko stared back at the pink haired girl. She had already known all of this from her talk with Naruto when she had taken him aside to comfort him about taking his first life, all the while cursing Kakashi for not doing his job as the boys sensei. Something about the masked jonin had always rubbed her the wrong way. Though to hear the pinkette openly admit it without making any excuse truly surprised her._

_With a quick flick of her wrist, the snake mistress shot the kunai she was playing with towards the pink haired girl, causing the poor girl to gasp in horror before the kunai embedded itself into the tree just to the side of her, effectively cutting the ropes that bound her. Freeing her in the process. Though Sakura didn't have much time to enjoy the freedom as Anko was quickly upon her with another kunai in hand, pressed firmly against the pinkette's throat._

"_Maybe there is hope for you yet, but mark my words pinky." The snake mistress hissed. "Naruto-kun is someone extremely precious to me, and if I hear of you hurting him in any way, consequences be damned, they will never find your body. Understand?"_

_Sakura did the only thing she could do, and silently nod._

"_Good, now get out of here." Anko ordered, placing her kunai back into her holster. "Exit is that way."_

_Sakura didn't need to be told and quickly took off in the direction the snake mistress had pointed towards. Not wanting to risk the snake mistresses wrath or ire._

**Flashback no Jutsu Dispel**

The pinkette still shuddered at her run in with the snake mistress, knowing full well that the purple haired woman would make good on her threat. Shaking herself from her inner musings, Sakura took the chance to look up as she entered the training ground, and to her surprise found Naruto leaning back against one of the three large posts, reading what appeared to be a scroll of some kind. For some unknown reason to her, she felt happy, and almost excited to see him again.

"Good morning, Naruto." The pinkette greeted a bit timidly, as a small part of her was nervous, having not seen him in a week.

At first, the blonde didn't reply, causing the pinkette to frown before he rolled up the scroll he had been reading and turned to meet her.

"Morning, Sakura." He greeted in return, though she still winced at the lack of -chan at the end of her name.

'_**We've always wanted him to leave us alone and stop pestering us for dates, and now that he has it just feels like something is missing.'**_ Inner commented in a depressed tone.

'_I know, brings a whole new meaning to the phrase 'be careful what you wish for,' doesn't it?'_

"Um, I haven't seen you all week." She tentatively commented, earning a raised eye brow from the blonde.

"I've been busy." Was all Naruto responded with, though it wasn't a lie.

Kurama had set to work on the blondes training right away, focusing on Fuinjutsu, knowing a particular seal that would give the boy some freedom to move around without worrying about the old monkey spying on him, as both knew the Hokage had kept watch over the boy through that crystal ball the old man kept in his office. Fortunately, the fox knew the one weakness the crystal ball had.

It focused solely on a single chakra signature.

In Naruto's case, it was the foxes. So Kurama had come up with an ingenious idea to throw off the old monkey. A simple combination between a blood clone, and a chakra seal. It had taken a bit of trial and error for the blonde to get it down right, with the right mixture of chakra into the blood to form a fully functional and sentient copy of himself that was far more durable then a standard shadow clone. That being done, the kyuubi had then pushed a large amount of his chakra into the blood clone to ensure the crystal ball would focus on the clone and not his actual vessel.

Lastly, Naruto had placed the seal on himself, once he had perfected it. Which had a sort of chakra dampening effect, making it near impossible for sensor's to focus in on his chakra signature unless he released far too much of it within a sensor's range. Fortunately, that was no issue during his later training towards the end of the week, as Naruto had secluded himself in the Forest of Death. Though he mentally shuddered when Anko would eventually find out that he had been training in her playground without her.

"I see." Was all Sakura replied with as she sat down on the other side of the post, awaiting the final two members of their team. Though she already knew Kakashi was going to be late again, as he always was.

As silence hung between the two, Naruto had once again pulled out the scroll and began reading over it once more. It wasn't anything special, just a scroll about improved chakra control exercises and other things he could do to increase the control over his massive chakra reserve. As well as a few jutsu's that he could add to his arsenal.

Normally, he wouldn't have been able to gain access to such a scroll, as the library, just like countless other businesses within the village would refuse him access. Despite it being illegal to refuse a Konoha Shinobi service. However, a simple henge had solved that issue, and with his blood clone wandering around, it had been easy to fool the librarian and various other shops. Allowing the blonde to get what he required and to actually have some actual home cooked meals. Not that he didn't like ramen, hell, he loved the stuff; but for the first time in seven years, he was able to enjoy a dish of an old recipe his mother would make them, thanks to Kurama's help of reciting the recipe to him.

Though he knew he would have to make it up to Ayame for not coming by the ramen stand all week. No doubt worrying about him, with their past experiences of him being hunted down and attacked. This of course caused him to frown slightly. The blonde didn't like it when those who he held close were worried or in pain.

'_**We should stop by after training today.'**_ Kurama put in, sensing the thoughts his container had. _**'You know that girl sees you as a little brother.'**_

'_Yeah.'_ The blonde mentally agreed.

Another half hour passed between them in silence while Naruto continued to read from his scroll. Meanwhile, Sakura would still glances at the blonde, curious as to what the scroll was about. However, before she could vocalize her question, the blonde quickly rolled the scroll up and stuffed it into one of his pouches, before leaning back against the post.

'_What was that….'_

She never got to finish her thought as Sasuke entered the training field. Smiling, she wished the raven haired teen a good morning, only for the last Uchiha to merely scoff at her, prompting her to frown at his dismissal of her.

Meanwhile, the Uchiha continued to not so silently complain about how the librarian had come over to his compound this morning and began pestering him about a scroll he had supposedly borrowed that needed to be returned by the end of the week. The pinkette had picked up on his grumbling and cast a side ways glance towards her blonde team mate in suspicion.

'_You don't think that Naruto-kun henged into Sasuke to get that scroll?'_ The pinkette mentally inquired.

'_**I think he did. He's been reading it all morning, and as soon as Sasuke arrived he put it away.'**_ Inner commented before seemingly pondering something else. _**'What if this wasn't the first time Naruto-kun henged into Sasuke?'**_

'_What do you mean?'_

'_**Think back to shortly after we passed the bell test, that moment on the park bench. Didn't Sasuke seem out of character then?'**_

Sakura thought on that for a few seconds. The more she thought about one of her most precious memories with the raven haired boy, the more it began to change as she began to imagine Naruto sitting in Sasuke's place. Her eyes widening in realization.

'_It wasn't Sasuke at all, it was Naruto-kun henged as Sasuke.'_ She replied to her inner self, whom merely mentally nodded in agreement.

"You know teme, it's considered polite to at least return a greeting." Naruto spoke up, breaking Sakura from her thoughts. "Or didn't your mother never teach you any manners?"

"At least I had a mother, dobe." The Uchiha retorted with a smug look on his face, taking a stab at the blonde being an orphan, as it was well known that the boys parents were killed during the Kyuubi attack fourteen years ago.

Sakura on the other hand frowned at the boys taunt, causing her to want to chastise her crush of being such a jerk to try and use Naruto's lack of parents as a taunt, though stopped herself when she saw the blonde merely smirk in response, as if he knew something they didn't. However, one thought shot through her mind.

'_Wait, was I really going to defend Naruto-kun from what Sasuke said?'_ She asked herself, before her eyes widened in surprise. It appeared that her week long search for her blonde team mate had acted as a sort of detox for her in regards to her obsession with the Uchiha. Allowing her to finally compare the two boys on her team with a clear mind.

'_**We were.'**_ Inner replied, not commenting on her outer self referring to the blonde with the -kun suffix and the lack of said suffix to the Uchiha's name for the past few minutes, since Sasuke had arrived to the training grounds. Though before both Sakura's could continue their mental conversation, Naruto broke them out of their thoughts.

"Really, that old taunt? I guess it is true about the great Uchiha clan." The blonde stated with a lazy sigh. "Can't create anything new, always have to steal it from somewhere else."

This of course caused the raven haired teen to seethe in anger, as the blonde in front of him had dared insult him and his clan.

"You're just jealous of my Sharingan's power." Sasuke defiantly stated.

"Yeah, yeah." The blonde scoffed before proceeding to flip off the Uchiha, which only served to infuriate the raven haired boy even further. "Copy this with your pink eye."

Despite herself, Sakura couldn't help but giggle to herself at Naruto's comeback, though had managed to cover it in a cough to not attract the attention of her two team mates. However, before things could escalate further, a poof of smoke erupted from the top of one of the training posts, revealing the masked jonin reading his trade mark orange book.

"Well, I see my lovely genin are lively this morning." Kakashi commented in his usual lazy tone as he casually put away his book.

"What are we going to work on today, Kakashi-sensei?" Sakura asked, looking up at the masked jonin.

Kakashi was silent for a moment as he took in his three students before him. He could see that Sasuke was about ready to attack Naruto for what the blonde had taunted the last Uchiha with. Though the masked jonin was surprised to see that Naruto did not rise to the bait and instead had flipped it around on Sasuke. Which was slightly concerning, causing the jonin to frown slightly.

'_Normally Naruto would have lashed out at Sasuke, but instead he remained calm and had managed to get under Sasuke's skin.'_ He thought to himself, before turning his attention back to the rest of Team 7.

"Today we will be working on individual exercises." Kakashi stated with an eye smile as he produced three scrolls. "Naruto, I want you to practice the leaf cutting exercise. Sakura, with your precise chakra control, I want you to focus on medical ninjutsu's."

Naruto said nothing as he took the scroll that was offered to him. Mentally scoffing at how badly the silver haired man hid his agenda. Sure, if he was still under the effects of the seals, the blonde would have ate it up that this was actual training. Now though, he saw it for exactly what it was. Stunting his growth to keep him from growing too strong, in case he needed to be put down.

'_Guess I better struggle all day with this, just so he doesn't get suspicious.'_ The blonde thought to himself, earning a mental nod from the large fox.

"What about me?" Sasuke demanded, looking to the masked jonin.

"I have some jutsu's for you to work on." Kakashi replied with an eye smile. "So you will come with me. Sakura, Naruto stay here and work on your own exercises."

"Hai Kakashi-sensei." Both replied.

Kakashi watched as Naruto made his way over to the tree line at the edge of the training field and began to gather leaves required for his exercise, while Sakura stayed near the training posts. Satisfied that the two had begun with their respective scrolls, the masked jonin lead the last Uchiha to the very far end of the training field, well away from the other two.

'_Can't wait to stick it to that bastard.'_ Naruto thought to himself, imagining various ways to punish the silver haired bastard. One of which included the same technique the man had used on the boy during the bell test.

* * *

**Berugakure**

The sound of steel clashing against steel echoed across the massive training field as the two combatants repeatedly traded blows with one another at blinding speeds. Which was surprising considering the size of the blade the smaller of the two wielded effortlessly.

"Very good Xion-chan." The red haired woman complimented her training partner. "It seems you truly are worthy to wield Kubikiribocho."

"Thank you, Kushina-sensei." The black haired teen panted, though didn't relax her stance.

"You never did tell me how you came across it." Kushina reminded as she charged forward with her own blade, bringing it down hard on the larger blade, causing the black hair girl to grunt under the blow.

After blocking the blow, Xion pivoted the blade and deflected the rest of the energy off to the left, giving her an opening to counter the red haired woman. Seeing the opening, the black haired girl charged forward only to suddenly halt her attack as her instincts told her to jump back. Wisely listening to them, she narrowly avoided a second attack from the red haired woman, whom had shifted her blade into a reverse grip position, using the momentum of the deflection to spin her around in the air. Skillfully, Xion landed a good six feet away from where she once was, her massive blade poised in a defensive position.

"Very good, Xion-chan, very good." Kushina praised as she moved into a relaxed stance, causing the black haired girl to frown, seeing that their training session was coming to an end.

"I can still go on, Kushina-sensei." Xion protested, not wanting to stop training. She had to get stronger, to bring Naruto back home. However, her body betrayed her as it gave out, causing her to fall to one knee.

"Xion-chan." Kushina sighed as she walked over to the downed teen and placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder. "No one wants my sochi back more then me, believe me. But it won't do you or him any good if your body is broken because you don't know when to stop and allow your body to heal."

Xion could only look down at the ground, tears forming in her eyes as she reflected on her soon to be mother in laws words. Nodding in understanding as she raised her head to meet the red haired woman's eyes.

"By this time next month, Naruto-kun will be back home where he belongs, and we will have a large celebration for his return." Kushina smiled, bringing the black haired teen into a hug, calming her down before the girls emotions got too out of control. "We will continue training in two days. In the meantime, rest and allow your body to recover."

"Ha-hai, Kushina-sensei." Xion panted, rubbing away the tears that had stained her cheeks.

"Now, you never did tell me how you came to wield Kubikiribocho."

"Well, it was when we were leaving Wave Country." Xion began.

**Flashback no Jutsu**

_Having bid their farewells to Tsunami and her family, the five girls had set off towards the docks to secure a boat back to their home village. Eager to tell Kushina the news that they had finally found where Naruto was and get him back. As they made their way across the small village, returning greetings to the various villagers, Xion had suddenly stopped and looked off in what appeared to be a random direction._

"_You okay, Xion-chan?" Kairi asked, seeing her friend and future sister-wife stop._

_Not saying anything, the short haired girl took off in the direction she had been staring in, prompting the others to follow after her. Not understanding why their friend had suddenly taken off without a word. After only a handful of minutes running, they found their answer as Xion had stopped in front of two fresh graves. One of which had a broken mask, and the other a massive sword impaled into the ground._

"_Naruto-kun dug these." Aqua stated as she approached the two graves, causing a wave of sadness to wash over the girls, followed by further spite towards the masked jonin that was supposed to be their beloved sensei._

"_That bastard Hatake didn't even want to honor a fallen enemy." Morgiana spat the mans name in disgust, as a similar feeling was felt amongst the others, having learned that the masked jonin had refused to help bury the two deceased foes, and had repeatedly gave his disapproval towards Naruto for doing so._

"_The mask must have belonged to Haku-san." Kairi stated as she knelt before the grave, offering a silent prayer to the fallen boy._

"_And this must have been Zabuza's." Rory commented as she looked at the grave in front of the massive blade._

_Xion however, remained silent as she stood before Zabuza's grave. Her eyes on the large sword that marked his gravestone. Folding her hands together, she bowed her head in respect to the fallen swordsmen before slowly reaching out and grabbing hold of the handle of the massive blade. She had expected it to be heavy, considering it's size. But to her surprise, it was as light as a feather, allowing her to swing it effortlessly._

_The rest of the girls watched as their short black haired girl lifted the blade out of the ground and gave it a few good swings before holding it with both hands to admire it's beauty._

"_It looks like Kubikiribocho has recognized you as it's new wielder, Xion-chan." Aqua commented._

_With their soon to be mother in law an acclaimed swords-woman herself, the five girls were well versed in the tales of the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist and the importance of their sentient blades, and how said blades chose it's new wielder._

"_I understand." Xion said with a smile on her face as she spoke to the blade, before turning and looking towards the other girls. "Kubikiribocho has acknowledge me as it's wielder, so that I can protect those dear to me."_

_Securing the large blade to her back, Xion turned around once more and offered a final prayer of respect towards the swordsman before turning and walking away with the rest of the girls. Set on returning home to give the Berukage the news about her son._

**Flashback no Jutsu Dispel**

"And that is what happened." Xion finished her tale while stroking the blade with her hand. "I promised Kubikiribocho that I would use him to bring back Naruto-kun and protect our family and village."

"A bond with a legendary sword is an extraordinary thing, and I know you will do us proud, Xion-chan." Kushina smiled. "Now head home and rest up."

"Hai, Kushina-sensei." The black haired girl bowed before departing the training field.

* * *

**Konoha, Hours Later**

It had been a long and boring six hours of training for the young blonde as he continue to fake struggling with the leaf cutting exercise. Though it seemed that the bastard of a sensei was pleased with his lack of progress, despite his words of disappointment in Naruto.

"Well, I must say all of you did well today." Kakashi gave his usual eye smile. "Be sure to meet back here tomorrow at 7am."

Not waiting for a reply, the masked jonin disappeared into another poof of smoke leaving the three genin along. Letting out a small sigh, the blonde genin stood up from where he was sitting, though still acting as if he was exhausted from the training exercises he was doing. Knowing full well Kakashi liked to 'disappear' only to spy on them from a distance.

"Um, Naruto-ku…. Naruto." Sakura called out, catching his attention as he raised an eyebrow in regards to her slip up. Even Sasuke had shot the pinkette a confused look, as the emo was expecting her to pester him for a date once more.

"What is it, Sakura?" The blonde inquired, a little curious at his pink haired team mates sudden focus on him.

"I was wondering if you would like to get some ramen?" The pinkette blushed as she realized it sounded like she was asking her blonde team mate out on a date.

"I was about to head there now." Naruto honestly replied. "But since when do you eat ramen? Aren't you on a diet?"

"I've been eating there all week." Sakura answered. _'While I was looking for you.'_

"And I've kind of ended my diet." She continued.

'_**Accept her offer kit.' **_Kurama spoke up as he watched the interaction between the two.

'_Kurama?'_ The blonde mentally questioned.

'_**It's clear she's been looking for you all week since we detected her following you the day we returned.' **_The fox explained. _**'Notice how she hasn't even asked the Uchiha bastard for a date all afternoon, yet she is asking you to join her.'**_

'_I guess.'_ The blonde relented, though still doubtful of the pinkette's intentions.

'_**I know your crush on her was based off of her hair subconsciously reminding you of Morgiana-chan, but I can **__**feel that**__** she truly wants to be friends with you.'**_ Kurama continued, sensing the blondes doubt. _**'I say give her another chance, may be nice to have an actual friend on the team while we are still here.'**_

'_Alright furball, you made your point.'_

'_**Love you too, brat.'**_ The fox retorted with a scoff, though smiled none the less.

"Alright Sakura, let's go." Naruto replied with a smile, causing the pinkette to blush a little before nodding and joining the blonde.

Leaving behind a dumbstruck Uchiha whom had just witnessed what had happened and still didn't understand how one of his annoying fan girls had completely ignored him all day, and then asked the blonde dobe out for a lunch date.

'_Did that really just happen?'_ He thought to himself.

* * *

**Additional Authors Notes: **And done!

Alright, first things first. The bit about Naruto flipping off Sasuke and telling him to copy it with his pink eye was directly inspired by another story I read some time ago. Sadly, I can't remember the name, but that part really stuck out for me, and I figured it would go perfect for that segment.

We also had a look into what Naruto had been doing his entire week off, and how he is managing the fool the Crystal Ball that the Hokage likes to use to keep tabs on his weapon. A nice combination of a Blood Clone filled with the Kyuubi's chakra to act as a decoy, while Naruto uses a dampening seal to hide his own chakra. Now he can train without interruptions.

Lastly, we got a look at Xion training with Kubikiribocho of all swords, as well as a little flashback as to how she acquired the blade. Going to be a huge shock to Kakashi when he sees the girl wielding it when they enter the exams here soon.

As always, I hope everyone enjoyed this chapter. Feel free to let me know in the reviews and/or private messages!


	4. Chapter 4

**Authors Notes:** Alright, so I kind of snuck in two updates of Darkness Falls for starting this chapter. For those following this story, I apologize for that, but I really wanted to wrap up the Land of Snow Arc. But, here it is. Chapter 4!

So, last chapter we got to see a little of what Sakura had been doing over the last week and her meeting with one crazy snake lady in for the form of Anko, whom is very protective over Naruto. Not to mention, we also learned that she has more or less dropped her diet and has been eating at Ichiraku's daily and can be assumed she has formed a friendship with Ayame.

In this chapter, we will also see a bit more of what Sakura has been doing the previous week.

As for Naruto, he has been busy training in fuinjutsu and chakra control. We also learned how he will be evading detection from Hiruzen's crystal ball, with an ingenious combination of a blood clone filled with Kurama's chakra, and a seal to distort and dampen his own chakra signature. Allowing him to train more physical exercises with little risk of being caught.

We also got to peek on on Xion, and learned that she has Zabuza's sword after it had selected her to be it's next wielder. As well as a small flashback on how she came upon it. During this flashback, we also learned that Kakashi had refused to honor the dead and that Naruto had dug the graves himself. As for Xion, her fighting style will be a lot like Cloud's from Final Fantasy VII and Advent Children. So expect her to pull out an Omnislash down the line.

Then the chapter ended with Sakura inadvertently asking Naruto on a lunch date, which shocked our resident emo into silence that she had ignored him all day and was now asking Naruto to join her for ramen of all things.

* * *

**Review Corner**

_**Einjeru Hatake – **_Yes, I intend for Sakura to be in the pairing, as she is already locked in. I simply like taking her on an arc with her being a fan girl and then growing as a character and learning there is more to Naruto then she originally realized.

_**UnsanMusho –**_ This was touched on a little in Chapter 2, but to recap, Kakashi already plans to use Naruto's affections towards Sakura to manipulate him to further the Hokage's agenda.

_**Squall321 –**_ You know, I think that is a question that will never be answered. It was even referenced in another fanfic I've been reading, titled From Ninja to Shinigami.

_**Thor94 –**_ Not sure about bloodlines, but Naruto will be extremely adept with Fuinjutsu and will have full control over Kurama's power, as the two have a good relationship with one another. I may give him Kushina's Chakra Chains though. As for Naruto planning revenge, well he is more concerned with simply getting back home rather then getting revenge. After he is safe, he will no doubt want to enact some for of revenge.

_**YeagerMeister31 –**_ Kushina has something very damaging planned for Konoha, she just needs to get her pieces in position. Let's just say, it involves a little black book Hiruzen keeps hidden away, that if in the wrong hands, could damage Konoha for generations to come.

_**Unlimited Fic Works –**_ Unfortunately, the poll is closed and the results will be posted below. But even before that, Namine was suggested, but I had decided not to include her because I already had 3 others from Kingdom Hearts. Also, Naruto's memories are fully restored after the seals broke, he's just out of practice with his training because Konoha had purposely stunted his growth.

* * *

**Poll Results**

It was a close race, well at least for second place. There was no question who was going to claim one of the remaining slots, as she had rocketed up right away to the top, leaving all the other girls in the dust. As for second place, it was a neck and neck race between four girls for the past week. But without further adieu, here are the last to girls to round out the harem. Esdeath and Pyrrha.

**Harem –** Anko, Aqua, Esdeath, Kairi, Koyuki, Morgiana, Pyrrha, Rory, Sakura, and Xion

This is it for the harem list. No more will be added. As stated, I have learned my lesson from Darkness Falls. All other girls like Hinata and Ayame will be viewed more as a sister to Naruto then a potential lover.

Also, I do have plans for how Esdeath and Pyrrha will be introduced, but they won't appear until a bit later.

So, without further adieu, let's begin!

* * *

**Remember Me**

Chapter 4

Currently the young blonde was regretting his love of ramen as a very upset ramen waitress glared down at him, causing him to shrink further into the stool he was seated in. While Sakura was attempting, and failing at holding a giggle in to herself at the interaction between the two. The pinkette knew that Ayame had been beyond worried for the blonde when he hadn't come by for an entire week. Immediately believing the worst had finally happened.

'_**Kit, you better apologize to her.'**_ Kurama barked from inside the boys mind, clearly worried about what the girl would do to his host. _**'Because I have never seen a woman that angry before, well, maybe your mother, but regardless. Apologize now.'**_

"Do you have any idea of how worried I was for you, Naruto-kun?" Ayame ground out as tears began to form in her eyes. "I had feared that the worst had finally happened!"

"Sor-sorry Ayame-chan." The blonde squeaked out as the brunette girl continued to glare down at him. "It's just that after my last mission, something happened that I really needed time to myself to figure out."

"You could have at least stopped by and let us know you were fine." The waitress continued to berate the young blonde. "Even Sakura-san here has been looking for you all week!"

This of course caught the blondes attention, to learn that the pink haired girl had been looking for him all week. Prompting him to give her a questioning look, which elicited a slight blush from the pinkette. As he took in her reaction, he noticed a small bandage on her right bicep, making him wonder what had happened. As far as he knew, she had done nothing that would have cause an injury during training.

"Umm, Ayame-san." Sakura interrupted the waitresses rant. "Could we perhaps get something to eat before you continue to scare Naruto?"

Ayame looked between the blonde boy and the pink haired girl for a moment before turning her attention back towards her little brother figure.

"Don't think you are off the hook yet for scaring us like that." She warned, before she seemingly flipped a switch and turned to Sakura with a cheerful expression. "The usual, Sakura-san?"

"Hai." The pinkette smiled.

"And I already know what you want, Naruto-kun." The ramen waitress stated before disappearing into the kitchen, leaving the two genin alone in an awkward silence as neither really knew what to say.

"So, um, I take it you henged as Sasuke to get the scroll you were reading this morning?" Sakura tentatively asked, breaking the awkward silence.

"Yeah." He answered honestly with a slight shrug. "Don't worry, I will return it before the due date so the teme doesn't get in trouble."

"This wasn't the first time you henged as Sasuke, was it?" She inquired.

"No." The blonde sighed, knowing where this was going.

"On the bench, after the bell test." She began, blushing slightly. "That was you, wasn't it?"

'_**Ha, ha, busted kit!'**_ Kurama laughed from the back of the boys mind.

'_Only took her how many weeks?'_ Naruto responded in a sarcastic tone. _'Damn teme would have never said that to her.'_

'_**Better late then never, kit.'**_

"Yeah, that was me." He sighed, and waited for the pinkette to physically lash out, however it never came. Causing him to look towards his team mate in confusion.

"I figured, since Sasuke would never say something like that." She responded, looking down at the counter, a slight frown on her face as she came to a small realization that the boy she had a crush on for so long would never be the romantic she had dreamed of him being. Yet Naruto had, causing her to blush lightly, stealing a glance at the blonde next to her.

'_**Hey kit, have you noticed something **__**about her speech pattern**__**?'**_ Kurama inquired, prompting the blonde to mentally cock an eyebrow in thought.

'_No, what?'_ Naruto replied to his older brother figure.

'_**She has dropped then -kun suffix from the Uchiha **__**brat's**__** name.' **_The fox pointed out, causing the blonde to slightly widen his eyes. _**'And she has almost used it on you, twice now.'**_

'_You're right.'_ He mentally responded.

"I suppose you want to know why I henged as Sasuke." It was more of a statement then a question, as he figured Sakura would be curious as to why he had decided to henge as the brooding emo. Though he had henged as other random civilians and shinobi as well through out the week.

"No, I know why." The pinkette sighed. "It's because a lot of the businesses in the village will either throw you out or charge you double or triple the standard price."

"How do you know this?" Naruto asked, though he already knew the answer.

"Three days ago, I got to know you." Sakura replied, rubbing her right bicep where her bandage was. Giving the blonde a clear idea of what had happened, causing his heart to sink into is stomach. "After I couldn't find you, I decided to spend a day in your shoes."

* * *

**Flashback no Jutsu**

_Sakura let out a long sigh as she leaned up against the side of a building. It had been four days since they had returned from Wave, and she had not seen any trace of her blonde team mate. To be honest, it was starting to get frustrating for the pink haired girl. She was also growing more and more concerned, after listening to how Ayame and her father had found the boy every so often over the past few years. Shuddering slightly as she recalled some of the gruesome ways they father and daughter duo would find the poor boy, the ramen waitress had reluctantly divulged._

'_Inner, I have an idea.' She began, wondering how her inner self would react._

'_**What's that Outer?'**_

_Instead of replying, the pinkette ducked into an alley way and ensure no one could see her before she made a ram seal. Immediately, a cloud of smoke obscured her body for a split second, before it dispersed, leaving a blonde haired teen boy in a horrendous orange jumpsuit in it's wake._

'_**You can't be serious!?'** Inner exclaimed, immediately concerned for what her outer self had planned._

'_I am.' Sakura, now henged as Naruto mentally replied. 'If I can't find him to talk to him, then I can walk a day in his shoes and get a look into his daily life.'_

'_**But you heard what the villagers said about Naruto, what if they think you are him and attack you?'**_

'_That's the idea. I want them to think I am Naruto.' Sakura frowned as she looked over her henge. As far as she could tell, it was spot on._

'_**Just be careful, Outer.'** Inner stated in concern, still not liking this plan. Especially after hearing from the ramen waitress what had happened to the poor boy in the past. **'****You heard what Ayame-san had said about how her and her father has found him before.'**_

'_I know Inner, I know.' Sakura sighed before taking a deep breath and left the alley way, placing her/his hands in her/his jacket. Knowing that she couldn't accurately portray his mannerisms nor imitate his voice, the pinkette had opted to merely stay quiet and walk around._

_The change was almost immediate as soon as she stepped back onto the main street. All the glares directed at her made her want to shrink back into the alley way and hide, but she forced herself to carry on. She needed to experience this so she could better understand Naruto. As she continued to walk through the street, she saw people whispering to one another while gesturing towards her. Mothers pulling their kids away from her, telling them not to go anywhere near the 'demon child'._

_As the day wore on, 'Naruto' wandered through the streets and various shops. Getting kicked out of most, and if they did let him in, the owner would charge him double or triple the asking price, stating it was a 'Demon' tax, causing the pinkette to frown. She did her best not to cause further trouble for her blonde team mate, though had still managed to get him banned from a few of the places that had allowed her in, making her feel slightly guilty._

_**Hours Later**_

_Slowly, the sun began to set; basking the village in an orange glow as the pinkette still henged as the young blonde made her way back towards the alley way she had started in. Lost in thought of everything she had experienced throughout the day._

'_**To think, he lives this every day.'** Inner commented with a solemn understanding of just how much pain and hate the blonde boy has to contend with on a daily basis._

'_How does he do it?' The pinkette wondered absent mindlessly. 'After the first few minutes I wanted to run and hide away from it all.'_

_However, her musing was cut short as a kunai grazed her right arm, eliciting a yelp in pain from the henged cherry blossom. Turning, she saw a small mob of people gathering behind her with some chuunin level shinobi's among them._

"_There he is!" One from the mob cried out. "Get him! Kill him! Avenge the Yondaime!"_

'_Shit!' She mentally screamed out as she broke out in a run, avoiding additional projectiles that were being thrown in her direction._

_As the minutes ticked by, she was becoming more and more tired. Not having the same stamina as her two team mates, and as she got more and more tired, the projectiles the mob were throwing at her got closer and closer. Having nearly hit her countless times._

'_I need a way out!' Sakura thought in a panic as she looked around for anything she could use. Seeing a tree just ahead she quickly came up with a plan. Taking a cautious look behind her, she timed began to time it. As soon as one of the chuunin in the crowd thew one of their kunai, she substituted herself with a log and disappeared into the tree, quickly dropping her henge._

"_Damn it!" A yell could be heard from one of the nameless pursuers. "The demon got away again."_

_Watching as the mob slowly began to disperse, upset that their prey had eluded them once more as they grumbled to one another about how they would get the demon brat next time. Letting out a sigh of relief, Sakura dropped down from the tree and lingered for a moment before leaving in the opposite direction that a majority of the mob left in. Unaware of a pair of blue eyes that had been watching her._

**Flashback no Jutsu Dispel**

* * *

"What you did was incredibly reckless, Sakura." The blonde frowned after the pinkette had finished her explanation. Sakura was about to retort before he held up his hand to prevent her from saying anything. "But, I thank you for actually trying to understand my life."

"You're welcome." She replied softly.

"Just promise me you will never do that again." He requested with a serious look in his eyes that she had never seen before, prompting her to simply nod her head in agreement. "If you really want to come talk to me, my apartment is in the Red Light District, top floor, all the way to the end. Just look for the graffiti."

Sakura frowned at this, but nodded none the less. Becoming further disappointed in the villagers actions. Weighing her options, she decided to ask the question that was foremost on her mind ever since his comment in Wave.

"Naruto, why do the villagers hate you?" She asked bluntly.

"Maybe they don't like my pranks." He offhandedly commented, earning another frown from the pinkette.

_**'He's hiding something.'**_ Inner commented with a mental frown, earning a nod from her outer self.

"Your pranks aren't that bad to get the entire village to hate you." She commented, causing him to let out a soft sigh.

"Sorry, but there is a law surrounding it." He answered in a low tone. "To reveal it would be a death sentence for you."

Nodding slightly, she decided to back off from the subject for now. Though his answer only got her more curious as to what it could be that required such a law to surround her blonde team mate. Though before she could reply to the blonde, Ayame returned with their bowls and placed them in front of the two genins.

"Here you go." The brunette happily stated.

"Thank you." Both responded as they began to dig into their respective bowls.

The two ate in silence as Ayame went to tend to other customers that began to filter into the ramen stand. After they finished, the two paid for their meals and bid the brunette waitress farewell, with Naruto promising that he would not disappear like that again.

_**'You should leave her a hint.'**_ Kurama commented as the two silently walked away from the ramen stand. _**'Like your birthday.'**_

_'You sure?'_ Naruto inquired with a mental frown._ 'I thought the whole reason of giving her a second chance was to have a friend on the team while I am still here. If she learns the truth, she could….'_

_**'If she is smart enough to figure it out, she is smart enough to know we are two different entities.'**_ The fox replied, cutting off the blonde. _**'I am not saying reveal our close friendship or anything.'**_

"I guess I will see you tomorrow?" Sakura asked, breaking the blonde from his inner conversation with his tenant.

"Yeah." He nodded, turning to leave before he paused. "By the way, my birthday is October 10th."

This caught the pinkette off guard as she watched the blonde walk away from her. Frowning, she pondered why he would give her such a mundane bit of information about him as she walked in the direction of her home.

_**'Why did he tell us his birthday?'**_ Inner inquired. _**'It's not like it's coming up soon or anything.'**_

_'No, it has to mean something.'_ Sakura mentally replied. _'Why does that date sound familiar?'_

Frowning further, she made a detour towards the village library. She knew there was a reason that Naruto had told her his birthday, and it wasn't because he was expecting a birthday party when it rolled around. Something in her gut told her that it had something to do with why the villagers hated him.

* * *

**Hokage Tower**

"Anything new to report?" The elder village leader asked as the silver haired jonin entered his office, reading his usual orange book.

"He is still more subdued since after the mission, not as loud as he used to be." Kakashi replied lazily, not looking up from his book. "He still struggles on chakra control exercises. He was unable to complete the leaf cutting exercise today."

"That is good," Hiruzen stated as he took a puff from his pipe. "We don't want our weapon to get too strong before he is mentally broken and completely loyal to this village."

Kakashi merely nodded in agreement. He knew full well the damage the demon could cause if he gained too much power before he was mentally conditioned to be the villages weapon. Especially if he decided to retaliate against the villagers attacks on him.

"Any other developments with your team?"

"Since Sasuke has unlocked his Sharingan finally, I've began to train him to use it. Hopefully within a few months I can start training him on how to use it to subdue other jinchuriki or biju."

"Good, good." Hiruzen nodded in approval. "Shame Itachi had to massacre the entire clan, we could use more matured Sharingan users to keep the weapon subdued. Has Sasuke shown any interest in reviving his clan?"

"No, Hokage-sama." The masked jonin sighed, closing his book. "His sole goal right now is to avenge his clan."

The elder man frowned at that. He had hoped the last Uchiha in the village would have at least have a few illegitimate kids running around with the sheer amount of fan girls the boy had. A few of which had blatantly stated they wanted to bear his children.

"Just make sure he is ready. The last thing we need is for the boy to die before he can sire any children." The hokage stated. "Anything else?"

"There has been a small development with the Haruno girl."

"And that is?"

"Since the incident in Wave, she has been consciously seeking out the jinchuriki."

"Do you suspect they are romantically involved?" The elder man asked. It was no secret that the blonde jinchuriki had a crush on the pink haired girl. If the two were romantically involved with one another, he would have to end it, possibly by disposing of the girl as she was more expandable then the weapon. However, the more he thought about it, the more he considered how this development could work in his favor.

"No." Kakashi replied. "It seems his crush on her has died in Wave. Her goal however, is to prove to him that there are others who would care if something were to happen to him. Should I intervene?"

"No." Hiruzen answered. "Allow her to continue. We could use this to our advantage."

"How so, Hokage-sama?"

"If they were to actually form an emotional bond with one another, we can exploit that bond to speed up the process of breaking his mind." Hiruzen grinned darkly. "I want you to start pairing them together on assignments. Subtly nudge them closer together, but don't force it."

"And if they do become romantic?"

"I will allow it for a time, to ensure that bond it set." The hokage replied, the grin still on his face as he imagined how his current plan would turn out in the villages favor. "Once the bond is set, we will remove the Haruno girl, allowing the weapons mind to completely break."

Kakashi frowned slightly, not wanting to toss away a potential kunoichi for the village, but it was for the greater good of the village. So it was an acceptable sacrifice to ensure Konoha took it's rightful place as the strongest of all the villages.

"It will be done, Hokage-sama." He bowed before departing the office, leaving the village leader alone with his thoughts.

A malicious grin on his face, the elder village leader took out a single black notebook from a safe under his desk and began to detail his current plan involving the young pink haired girl, and the village weapon. It was risky to have all of the villages dark secrets he had ordered in a single place, but the elder man knew there was a chance he would not see his plan to fruition, and it would fall to his successor to see it to the end. And this book would guide them along the path to make Konoha the greatest of all the Hidden Villages. Once his successor fully believed in the 'Will of Fire'.

'_Forgive me, Sakura Haruno.'_ Hiruzen thought to himself. _'But your sacrifice is necessary for the greater good of Konoha when the time is right.'_

* * *

**The Next Morning, 7am**

In a word. Sakura was tired.

She had stayed up well into the early morning hours combing over the scrolls, books, and various other newspaper clippings that she had borrowed from the village library. All relating to the date Naruto had given her, and what she had discovered from the newspaper clippings had made her heart sink. The same night her blonde team mate was born, the Kyuubi had attacked the village.

She knew the story well enough of how the Yondaime Hokage had valiantly fought against the massive demon fox and had killed it at the cost of his own life to preserve Konoha and it's people. However, she had found irregularities between the newspaper clippings and the lessons from the academy. Realizing they didn't match up. There was also the fact that the villagers had called her, when she was henged as Naruto, a demon or a demon child.

That was what had prompted her to look up scrolls about biju. Learning that they were constructs made purely of chakra and thus, unable to be killed by any known means. Even if the biju would sustain enough damage to disperse, it would only reform some time later. As she further researched, she came across the bit of information that made her body run cold. The only way to 'defeat' a biju, was to seal it within a newborn child that had yet to form any chakra coils. It was then that everything clicked together. Naruto had the Kyuubi sealed within him.

With that new knowledge, the pinkette had quickly scrounged for any information regarding jinchuriki. Learning that with the exception of Kumogakure and Berugakure, nearly every Hidden Village that had one had treated their jinchuriki as if they were worse then trash, and Konoha was no different. The reason why the villages would do this was just as horrifying. They wanted to break the jinchuriki's mind and strip them of their humanity. Turning them into mindless weapons to be pointed at the villages enemies.

However, there was one bit of information that the pinkette had come across that had froze her very soul. A discovery made by pure accident. Setting an empty glass on top of one of the newspaper articles that one brave or stupid reporter had managed to snap an up close picture of the rampaging Kyuubi, the pinkette had saw something odd with the beasts eyes. While it was difficult to make out through the pixelated photo, she could make out the markings of an advanced Sharingan eye.

This accidental discovery had sent the pinkette on another round of research, looking up scrolls and such about the Sharingan eye and it's advanced forms. From what she had learned of biju themselves, she knew that the chakra beasts them selves held no dojutsu. So upon reading up on the various forms of the Sharingan that the library had, she had learned that the Mangekyou Sharingan is capable of casting powerful genjutsu over it's target that would allow the wielder to control their victim. Furthermore, she had learned that one such Mangekyuo wielder by the name of Madara Uchiha was capable of asserting complete control over the Kyuubi.

Piecing the pieces together, she had come to the conclusion, as unlikely as it was, that the Kyuubi had been forced to attack the village that night. Though for what reasons, she didn't know. Letting out a sigh, she leaned her head back on the training post. Desperately wanting to close her eyes and fall asleep, but resisted all the same. She wanted to, no, needed to talk to Naruto about what she had learned. Praying to Kami that the blonde would arrive before the rest of her team.

Fortunately, her prayers were answered as she heard the sound of foot steps approaching her locations. Looking up, she saw her blonde team mate. Standing up, she brushed the dirt off her clothing before turning to greet the blonde.

"Morning Sakura." Naruto greeted. "Did you sleep…"

He never got to finish as the pinkette wrapped him in a hug, burying her face into the crook of his neck. Catching the young blonde by surprise by such an action. Though, he knew why.

"You found out, didn't you?" He asked, earning a nod from the girl as she broke away from the hug.

"I did some research last night about the date you gave me." She replied as she took a step back, looking down at the ground as she tried to form how she was going to approach the subject. "I know now why most of the villagers hate you."

"I see." Was all Naruto answered with.

"But I don't think differently of you." Sakura quickly reassured.

"I know." He chuckled. "Otherwise you wouldn't have hugged me like you did, Sakura-chan."

Upon hearing the -chan suffix added to her name once more, the pinkette's heart fluttered with joy. A few weeks ago, she would argue as to why she felt this way, but now, she knew exactly why. She missed the blonde referring to her in such an affectionate manner. Her week long search for the blonde, her meeting with the crazy snake lady, and her experience living a day as him had opened her eyes and allowed her to view to blonde teen in a new light.

"There was something else." She stated, her voice low as if she didn't want anyone else to hear what she was about to say. This of course caught the blondes attention as he looked to her, waiting for her to continue.

"What is it?"

"I think… I think _**'It'**_ was controlled that night." She all but whispered, putting an emphasis on the word _**'it'**_ so Naruto knew exactly who she was talking about.

* * *

**Additional Authors Notes: **And that's a wrap!

So, our little pinkette got to live a day in the life of Naruto and nearly payed for it when she got attacked by a mob of villagers and chuunin that she just barely escaped from. Giving her a new insight on just how hard of a life her blonde team mate leads.

On top of that, she also learned Naruto's secret. Which is always fun. I like portraying her as being intelligent enough to come to accurate conclusions with little information. Even taking it a step further and having her notice something most villagers would have over looked, and coming to the conclusion that the Kyuubi may have been controlled by someone to attack the village.

We also got to see Naruto fully give her a second chance, by calling her Sakura-chan again. Seeing that she learned his secret and still accepted him was a huge relief for him. Though he didn't expect her to come to the conclusion that Kurama was controlled, which allows him to trust her more. However, he still doesn't have a crush on her.

Lastly, we got to see a bit more of Hiruzen's twisted plan and how they now plan to use Sakura to further their agenda. And yes, his little black book will come into play later on, for those wondering.

Anyways, hope everyone enjoyed this chapter. Feel free to leave your thoughts and comments in the reviews, or feel free to hit me up with a private message!


	5. Chapter 5

**Authors Notes:** So, it's been roughly a month since the events in Wave happened, so that means in roughly a day or so, the Chuunin Exams will begin and Naruto's fiances will finally meet our blonde hero for the first time in years. Should be interesting to see how Sakura will react when she finally learns that her blonde team mate is already engaged to five girls.

Anyways, last chapter we saw a bit more plotting between Hiruzen and Kakashi. Now of which, involves Sakura being a sacrificial pawn to further try to break Naruto further. So now Kakashi will be attempting to nudge the two together during their missions within the village and training sessions. Now that Naruto is no longer under the seals power, he will realize something is up right away. Already having a distrust with the masked pervert.

We also got to see Naruto and Sakura have their first lunch date, and also learned what Sakura had went through during the week she was searching for our blonde hero. Even going as far as to henge as him to walk a day in his shoes to really get his perspective on how life is for him on a daily basis. Not to mention, she has made a new friend in Ayame, and maybe developed a bit of an addiction to ramen.

* * *

**Review Corner**

_**HyperA2019 – **_Think ya got this story confused with another one. Naruto is the one who needs to be rescued. His mother is the leader of the village Berugakure, which is a village I created specifically for this story. Why is she there instead of in Uzushiogakure? Because Uzu still fell during the Second Shinobi War. The only difference is that many managed to evacuate to Berugakure, so expect that to change a few things within the story.

_**God of lightning mark 2 – **_Well, technically we get to see the Beru Team before the third stage, as they have to go through the first two phases of the exams. Kushina won't show up until the third stage, as much as she really wants to be there before then.

_**Thor94 –**_ Yeah, and this is my first attempt at an Evil!Hiruzen story, so hope I am doing a good enough job making him look like a manipulative, power hungry dictator. Doing what he does all in the name of the good of the village. Though I should probably have him have some time with Naruto, pretending to be the caring grandfather figure.

_**YeagerMeister31 – **_Yup, the previous chapter gave Sakura most of the spotlight to show her character growth. Also love coming up with different ways for her to figure out Naruto's secret. And yes, I realized the timing was wrong after I posted the chapter.

_**Chaos Snow Kitsune –**_ Already replied to this in a private message, but will also answer it here as well, in case others had similar thoughts.

The only reason Sakura managed to see the Sharingan in the Kyuubi's eye is due to the brave/stupid reporter getting an up close photo of the fox's head, added to the fact that she set down an empty glass over it, which acted as a magnifying glass. Inspired by the scene in Who Framed Roger Rabbit, when the detective does the same thing and notices the will in the mans shirt pocket.

**Harem –** Anko, Aqua, Esdeath, Kairi, Koyuki, Morgiana, Pyrrha, Rory, Sakura, and Xion

Now then, on with the story!

* * *

**Remember Me**

Chapter 5

**Konoha, Four Weeks Later**

Naruto couldn't exactly place his finger on it, but something seemed off with his supposed sensei as of late. For the past few weeks, the masked jonin had constantly paired Sakura up with the blonde for random things, that at first didn't seem like nothing. Having Sakura merely help the boy with various chakra exercises, or maybe a small task during one of their many D-rank missions within the village. But the constant consistency of it made the blonde jinchuriki question the silver haired mans motives.

Sakura had seemed to notice this as well, as she cast her blonde team mate a confused look when ever Kakashi had instructed her to aid Naruto. Not that she minded being with her blonde team mate that she had forged an actual friendship with, she just found it odd that her sensei was requiring her to always be around him for any little thing.

"Alright, that's it for today my cute little genin." The masked jonin called out as he stood up from where he was sitting the entire time while the three were wrapping up their latest D-rank mission. "Be sure to be here bright and early tomorrow morning."

"Hey Kakashi-sensei." The blonde called out, catching the jonin's attention, though he blanched on the inside to have to call the man by that just to keep up his appearance. "Do have any extra training I can do?"

Kakashi merely frowned before replying. "I'm afraid not right now, maybe later."

In truth, he didn't want to train the boy anymore then what was required or unless the Hokage deemed it necessary for more training. Always using the promise of new jutsu's and techniques as a carrot on a stick to string the weapon along. As it was, he was barely skilled enough to handle the upcoming exams. Of course there was no chance of the blonde jinchuriki being promoted, he was merely there to support the Uchiha. All the boy had to do was survive the tests.

"Ah, okay Kakashi-sensei." The blonde whined while kicking some dirt. "Guess I'll just go get some ramen. See ya tomorrow."

'_Kurama, please kill me.'_ He mentally cried anime tears at having to put on this act. _'Just overload my coils with your chakra and burn me alive from the inside.'_

'_**Suck it up kit.'**_ The fox retorted, rolling it's eyes at the young teens antics. _**'Won't be long before we can escape this cesspool and get you back where you belong.'**_

"Hey Naruto, wait up!" A voice called from behind him. Turning he saw his pink haired team mate running to catch up with him.

"What's up, Sakura-chan?" The blonde asked, tilting his head to the side slightly.

"Don't 'what's up' me, baka." The pinkette chastised. "You know I always go with you for ramen. Now come on, Ayame-san is probably waiting for us."

Chuckling, the blonde jinchuriki scratched the back of his head before he followed after Sakura, while Kakashi and Sasuke merely looked on. The latter still not sure of what was going on with his team mates. Wondering what had happened that the annoying fan girl was now chasing after the blonde. Not that he cared, he was glad she was focusing on someone else other then him. Kakashi on the other hand had a smirk hidden under his mask.

'_Everything is going as planned.'_ He thought to himself. _'Just need to push them a little more and Hokage-sama can initiate the next phase of his plan. All for the good of Konoha.'_

"Come on Sasuke, I have some training for your Sharingan." He stated as he lead the last Uchiha further into the training field.

* * *

**Sakura and Naruto**

"Naruto, does Kakashi-sensei seem weird to you lately?" The pinkette asked as they approached the ramen stand that had become a natural hang out for the two of them.

"You mean that it feels like he is purposely putting the two of us together for the past few weeks?" The blonde clarified, his tone carrying a weight of seriousness to it. At the same time, he also activated the seal on him to distort his chakra signature to prevent the old man from spying on their conversation.

"Exactly." She frowned as the two of them took their seats inside the stand next to each other and placed their usual orders. "It felt like he was purposely putting us together, but not in a sense to improve team work."

"It felt off to me as well." Naruto nodded in agreement. "Almost like it was forced."

"What, are you implying that I am bad company?" The pinkette teased.

"Oh, the worst." The blonde rolled his eyes in sarcasm, earning a giggle from the pink haired girl.

"Here you two go." Ayame piped up, placing two bowls of ramen in front of the duo.

"Thanks Ayame-nee-chan." Naruto smiled, earning a blush from the ramen waitress.

"So how was your day so far?" The brunette inquired her two usual customers.

"More D-rank chores that civilians are too lazy to do themselves." Naruto half complained while he ate, earning a giggle from his team mate, and a chuckle from the ramen waitress. "Other then that, more training, though Kakashi-sensei keeps pairing Sakura-chan and myself together lately."

"Aww, sounds like he's playing match maker and trying to get you two together." Ayame teased, causing the pinkette to deeply blush at the insinuation. However, the young blonde adopted an expression of thought on his face, narrowing his eyes slightly.

'_**I think the ramen **__**waitress**__** is on to something, kit.'**_ Kurama commented. _**'Though I doubt the bastard is trying to play match maker. He has an ulterior motive.'**_

'_I agree, but what?'_

'_**I am not sure, but I think your friend just became a pawn to be used and discarded once her usefulness has ended.'**_

Naruto couldn't help but frown at that. If he knew his renewed friendship with his pink haired team mate would put her in danger, he would have continued to push her away. Cursing his forgiving nature, he tried to come up with a way to gently tell Sakura that it would be best to distance herself from him. Though, he could come up with nothing that wouldn't reveal his secret, and he wasn't sure where she would stand if he told her that he had been kidnapped and was currently training to run away from Konoha to return home.

"You okay, Naruto?" Sakura inquired as she snapped the blonde out of his musings.

"Yeah." He quickly replied. "Why?"

"You kind of zoned out there, kind of like you were talking to someone only you could hear." She offhandedly commented. Not noticing the boys eyes widen for a fraction of a second.

"Sorry about that." He replied, sheepishly. Rubbing the back of his head.

The two ate in a comfortable silence for the next few minutes, though to the pinkette's surprise, the blonde teen had stopped at a measly two bowls of ramen. Once he was finished, he laid his money out on the counter to pay for the meal and bid Sakura good bye, telling her that he was going to go train a little.

With a frown on her face, Sakura watched as her blonde team mate disappeared down the street. Not missing some of the glares sent the boys way by the villagers he passed by, causing her to scowl slightly.

"You like him don't you?" A voice startled the young pinkette, snapping her out of her thoughts. Turning around, she saw a grinning Ayame.

"I-I…." She fumbled, blushing horribly. Completely caught of guard by the young woman's bluntness.

"Ah ha, so you do like him!" She exclaimed while pointing a playful accusing finger at the young pink haired kunoichi.

To hide her embarrassment, Sakura quickly shoveled the remaining ramen into her mouth and fished into her pocket to pay for her meal before the ramen waitress stopped her.

"Naruto-kun already paid for yours." She smiled, earning another faint blush from the pinkette at the blonde teens gesture, and muttered a thanks to the ramen waitress. "Just be sure to be there for him, Kami knows that boy needs all the love he can get right now."

Nodding her head, Sakura climbed down from her stool and departed the stand. She was half tempted to seek our her blonde team mate and perhaps join him for a training session, but she realized that she didn't know where Naruto trained when he was on his own. All she knew was that he did it away from prying eyes. _'To ensure Sasuke-teme couldn't copy __my__ training with his pink eye'_, were the blondes words. Two months ago, the pinkette would have lashed out at the blonde for making such a comment about the great Uchiha, but when he had said it, she had simply giggled.

Knowing that she wouldn't be able to find her blonde team mate, she had instead opted to head home and get to bed early. Not knowing what horrors would await her the next day. She was about half way home when a voice called out to her from her right.

'Oi, forehead!" A platinum blonde girl called out.

"What do you want, Ino-pig." The pinkette retorted.

"Is that any way to greet your best friend and rival?" The blonde girl grinned as she approached Sakura.

"You haven't been my friend since we were ten." Sakura scowled, with a bit of disappointment in herself for allowing a single boy ruin their once close friendship. As much as she wanted to blame the girl across from her, she knew she was just as guilty.

"Anyways," Ino continued, ignoring the comment the pinkette made. "I heard you've been spending a lot of time with Naruto-baka, even spent your first week back looking for him. What's up, you got the hots for him or something?"

"Why do you care?" Sakura inquired with a clipped tone, clenching her fists tightly as she became upset at the blonde girl insulting her blonde team mate. "And Naruto is not an idiot."

"Just wanted to see if it was true." The blonde girl shrugged. "And it seems it is, with how defensive you are over him."

When Sakura didn't reply, Ino continued.

"So does this mean you're finally realizing that Sasuke-kun will never choose you over me?" The blonde taunted. "Is that why you're now chasing after that loser?"

"What ever." Sakura scoffed as she turned to walk away, only to be stopped once more by her former best friend.

"You really are chasing after Naruto now, aren't you!?" The blonde girl stated, more surprised then anything else. "Okay, spill forehead, what happened?"

Sakura could only mentally groan, as she knew the mind walker would not let it drop until she got the information she was after. With a reluctant sigh, the pinkette motioned the blonde to follow her to one of the nearby training grounds, to reduce the chance of other's listening in.

"Alright, spill the beans Sakura, what happened to make you focus on Naruto-baka?" Ino all but demanded, ignoring the pinkette's glare once they arrived to their destination.

"Fine, you know how a month ago we had that mission in Wave Country?" Sakura inquired, earning a nod from the blonde. "That's when it all changed. Naruto-kun said something that really shook me to my core."

Ino could only cock an eye brow at the -kun suffix the pinkette had unknowingly attached to Naruto's name, but decided to remain silent for the time being, though storing this bit of information away to tease the pink haired kunoichi later.

"Well, what did he say?" The blonde mind walker asked, a bit impatiently. "Did he confess his undying love to you or something?"

"No, I wish it was something that simple." Sakura all but whispered, her expression turning solemn. "When Kakashi-sensei and I found him after he mastered the tree walking exercise. He pulled one of his pranks, I yelled at him about how he could have died, and what he told me still haunts me."

After a pregnant pause, much to the ire of the blonde, she continued.

"He said I wouldn't care if he did, and even stated that the village would celebrate his death. And the sad thing is, it's true about the villagers." Sakura finished, wiping a few tears that had formed in her eyes.

"How do you know if it's true?" Ino asked, a little skeptical about the villagers reaction if the blonde goofball had died.

"Two reasons." Sakura sighed, looking down at the ground. "When we returned, I followed Naruto-kun to try and talk to him. As I did, I heard the whispers of the villagers and even some of the shinobi, confirming what he said. Many wishing he would have died on our mission outside the village, others bragging about horrible things they have done to him in the past when he was younger."

Ino could only look on in horror at this revelation.

"The other reason I know this." The pinkette bit back a sob. "I henged as him for one day. All day, the glares, sneers, hateful words. Getting tossed out of stores, over charged for expired food. And that wasn't the worst of it. They tried to kill me. Not just the villagers, but shinobi as well. They chased me with the intent of killing me."

"I don't believe it." The blonde stated in denial.

"Use your Mind Transfer Jutsu on me then, and you will see it as it happened." Sakura challenged.

Ino frowned a bit, before moving her fingers into the proper seals for her families jutsu, rising up to the pinkette's challenge. Instantly, she found herself within her former friends mind. Immediately she was thrust into the girls memories of what happened in Wave.

Naruto hanging upside down from a tree branch with his trade mark grin on his face as he reacted to the frightened and shocked reaction he got from the two from his latest prank. Herself as Sakura yelling at him for being an idiot and how he could have died if he fell. Then the words that felt like a punch to the gut, how she wouldn't care if he died. Kakashi reprimanding the blonde, only for Naruto to scoff and claim that no one would care if he died, and that the villagers would celebrate his death.

Suddenly, the memory shifted to a bridge. Two bodies had fallen due to the sheer number of adversaries before a short, fat man barked out orders for his men to kill the male shinobi and capture the women to be broken in and then sold off to various brothels. Fear freezing her very soul at the implication. Then she saw a red chakra wrap around Naruto as he let out an enraged roar before the blonde charged forth and began to massacre the thugs before reaching the pathetic fat man, who was now on his knees, begging to be spared. Ino could only gasp as she saw the red chakra wrap around the man and rip him apart. The slaughter finished, the red chakra seeped back into the blonde before he turned and collapsed on the bridge.

Another shift, Ino found herself trailing the blonde boy through the village. Watching as the villagers she recognized as being cheerful and kind all glare at the blonde boy, whispering desires that the boy died, and some even bragging about how they had tortured the boy years ago. Their very words made her want to throw up in disgust.

Another shift in memories. She now felt the glares and hateful words directed at her as she walked through the village. Attempting to enter a shop, only to be chased out by the shop owner. Stating something about demons not allowed in his store. She wanted to cry. Each store was the same experience, and those that did allow her in would charge her three times to normal price. Then, she felt a kunai graze her arm, bringing her attention to the mob that had formed behind her. Turning, she quickly ran away from them. Dodging projectiles as much as she could.

Then it all went black, and Ino found herself back in her own body. Tears streaming down her face at the memories she had just witnessed. She couldn't believe it, yet it was true. She knew the pink haired girl couldn't fabricate such things. She had actually experienced these things first hand. Though the mind walker had been completely unaware that Inner Sakura had been the one directing her to certain memories.

"That last part you saw." Sakura stated, catching the blondes attention. "He lives through that every day."

"I-I can't believe it." Ino stammered, trying to shake the feeling of what she had just experienced. Rubbing her arm where the kunai had grazed her in the memory. "But why would you henge as him?"

"Because I wanted to experience it for myself." The pinkette answered softly. "My mother always told me that you never truly know someone until you walk a day in their shoes."

Silence hung between them as Sasuke was forgotten from the blonde mind walkers mind. Her thoughts now revolving around her fellow blonde, and the daily trials he faced on a regular basis. However, one single thing stuck out to the blonde mind walker.

"You know, there is one thing I should point out to you forehead." Ino mischievously grinned, making Sakura a little bit nervous. "This entire time, you've been referring to Naruto as Naruto-kun."

At this, the pinkette stiffened as a heavy blush spread across her face.

* * *

**Naruto**

The blonde jinchuriki groaned as he did his stretches, having arrived at his desired training ground that had become a home away from home. Training ground 44, also know as the Forest of Death. He had chosen this particular training ground for his private training due to the fact that many shinobi, even of Jonin rank, avoided this place due to the dangers that the forest itself held. Only one was crazy enough to frequent here, aside from himself.

Not wasting anymore time, Naruto summoned around a hundred clones and divided them into small groups. Instructing one group to practice tree walking, another to set to work on water walking, another group to practice fuinjutsu, and the last group he split in half. Having one half practice throwing kunai, and the other half throwing shurikan.

With his clones setting off on their assigned tasks, the original removed his monstrosity orange jumpsuit, leaving him in only a pair of dark blue shorts, and a black t-shirt. He really hated that jumpsuit and cursed the old bastard for forcing him to wear it. Of course he knew why the bastard instilled that false memory of orange being his favorite color. It made him stand out more, easier to hunt down for the villagers fox hunts. Making a mental note to trash any remnants of his orange clothing as soon as he got back home where he belonged, and replace them with his favorite colors. Black and Red.

Moving over to one of the training posts, he began to execute perfect strikes into the post. Barely registering the impact as his knuckles and shins smashed into the hard wood. The indentations on the post where his strikes connected made it very clear he had been doing this since his return from Wave. Though, as they often did, memories began to float to the front of his mind. Of his life in Berugakure. All his girls, his himes smiling at him, his mother hugging him. The villagers actually treating him with kindness and respect.

Then Kakashi, the bastard, luring him away to an isolated training field. A false promise of teaching him one of his fathers famous jutsus. The night everything came undone, and destroyed. So caught up in his memories that Naruto didn't notice the blood coming from his shin as he began to kick the post harder, until in one last powerful strike, he broke the training post in half. Snapping him out of his thoughts.

"Fuck." The blonde cursed as a wave of pain washed over him as he came crashing back to reality.

"Damn gaki.." A voice called out from behind him, prompting him to turn to see the snake mistress making her way over to him.

"Hey Anko-chan." Naruto smiled, as he turned to greet the approaching snake mistress.

"So what's got you so upset that you decided to chop down the training post with just your legs?" Anko inquired in a teasing tone, though an underlying hint of concern was evident.

"Just bad memories." He replied honestly with a sigh. _'__Kami, I wish I could tell her the truth.'_

'_**Then tell her kit.' **_Kurama stated. _**'I can sense she truly cares for you, hell, she may even love you. She's not that much older then you.'**_

This of course earned a slight blush from the blonde as he struggled to mentally shake himself out of his inner monologue.

"Still being haunted by what happened on your last mission outside the village, gaki?" The snake mistress asked, taking a seat on a fallen log.

Frowning slightly, Naruto came to his decision.

"No, something else." He sighed as he walked over to the same log, and sat down just a small bit away from her. "Anko-chan, what I am about to tell you is a secret that I trust you with."

Hearing the seriousness in the boys tone, Anko turned her full attention to him. Turning herself so that she was now straddling the log, facing directly at the young blonde. Concern etched in her face.

"I don't belong here." He stated with a sigh, causing her to narrow her eyes slightly at his words. "This village, it's not my home."

"What do you mean gaki?" She asked. "I know the villagers are assholes and will rot in hell for the shit they have pulled…."

"It's not that Anko-chan." Naruto interrupted her, causing her to scowl slightly. "The truth is, seven years ago, I was kidnapped from my home in Berugakure, under the orders of the current Hokage."

At this revelation, Anko's eyes widened to comical proportions. Silently, she moved closer and brought the blonde teen into a hug. Inadvertently, smashing his head into her breasts, causing him to blush fiercely at the closeness. Though, she believed him. She knew all to well that the village was not the beacon of purity that it claimed to be.

"You're training to leave, aren't you Naruto-kun?" She asked, her voice soft in a very un-Anko like tone.

"Yes." He replied honestly, gently pulling away from her to look her in the eyes. Though blushed as he realized just how beautiful she looked. "I want to go home. Away from the hate and the pain."

"The Chuunin Exams." She whispered.

"What?"

"Starting this week is the Chuunin Exams." Anko continued. "That will be your chance. Lots of people from foreign countries will be coming in and out of the village. That's your best chance to escape."

"Anko-chan?"

"With all the movement, it should give you a head start before they send anyone after you." She continued, tears forming in her eyes as she sniffled slightly.

"Come with me, Anko-chan." He offered, earning a surprised look from the snake mistress. Gently taking her hand into his own.

Now it was her turn to look at the blonde in confusion, realizing what he was asking.

"I know you've gone through the same shit as me." He pressed, moving slightly closer to bring her into a comforting hug. "I know the villagers also treat you like shit. You would be welcomed in Berugakure."

"Bu-but if I leave, they won't remove the seal the snake bastard put on me." She tried to protest, though it was weak.

"Anko-chan." He sighed. "I don't think these bastards ever plan on actually removing it from you. It's just a false promise to string you along. Just like Kakashi-baka does with me with new jutsus."

Hearing this, Anko couldn't prevent the tears from falling from her eyes. She had her doubts the old man would ever come through with his promise of freeing her from her past, but she knew the blonde teen was right. He was only stringing her along. Sobs racking her body as she silently admitted the truth to herself.

"But don't worry, Hebi-hime." He smiled as he brought her face up to look at him, causing her to blush at his nickname for her. "I promise you that we will get it off you and free you from that bastard."

Hearing this, the snake mistress did the first thing that came to mind. She launched forward and captured the blondes lips with her own. Catching him by surprise, though he returned her kiss as he was forced to lay back on the log with the seductive snake mistress on top of him.

'_**Good going kit, you got another one.'**_ Kurama laughed inside the boys mind. _**'Now you just need f**__**our**__** more to fill all the seats of your family council.'**_

'_One step at a time, ero-fox.'_ Naruto mentally shot back at his tenant and older brother figure. _'We don't even know if she will…., oh wow, she's using her tongue.'_

At this, the giant fox barked with laughter as the snake mistress assaulted his hosts mouth with her own tongue. Things were going to get interesting, and soon.

* * *

**Berugakure, One Day Earlier**

Kushina gazed out of the window of her office, over looking a majority of the village of Berugakure. It had been just over a month since the girls had returned from Wave Country and had begun their training for the upcoming Chuunin Exam's that were to be hosted by Konoha. The woman had long since sent the proper paper work to get her team into the exams, under the guise of strengthening relationships between the two villages. Fortunately, the required paper work went through the Fire Daimayo's court, and not the local villages council.

Knowing that Konoha was behind the kidnapping of her son, she was positive if Hiruzen had to approve the papers, he would isolate Naruto away from the village just to keep him out of sight while they were there. The mere thought that the old bastard was behind her sons kidnapping made her blood boil. When she had learned the news, she was tempted to follow Rory and Morgiana's idea and storm the village, but years of being a village leader herself had done much to temper her recklessness from her youth.

Her main priority now was to simply extract her son. She would deal with the war once he was safe.

"Mission success, Berukage-sama." A deep voice spoke from behind her.

Turning, she saw a rather tall and lean man with a gymnasts body. His face obscured by a metallic mask that gave off the impression of being a skull. Reaching up, the man before her removed his mask and lowered his hood, exposing a rugged face with a scruffy beard and shaggy long hair.

"What did you find, Corvo?" She inquired as she took her seat behind her desk, waiting for her top spy master and assassin to report on his recent mission.

"As you requested, I investigated the new village that had popped up in Rice Country." The man began. "I learned that it is being lead by the missing-nin, Orochimaru. Furthermore, upon investigating inside the village walls, I came across something interesting."

"And what's that?"

"He plans to invade Konoha during the upcoming Chuunin Exam's, during the finals." Corvo replied as he produced a few scrolls. "I've copied down his plans. Looks like he has talked Suna into joining him, due to the financial stress the village has been under due to their own Wind Daimyo forwarding missions to Konoha instead."

Taking the scrolls, Kushina began to read over them. Narrowing her eyes slightly before a ghost of a smile visited her lips.

"I also heard that young Naruto-sama has been found." The man ventured, garnering the attention of the red haired woman once more.

"You over heard the girls, didn't you?" She smiled, earning a nod in acknowledgment from her spymaster. "Just over a month ago we felt Kurama's chakra signature spike. I sent the girls to investigate the source, a small village in Wave Country. Upon arriving there, they discovered that Naruto-kun had been there with a team of genin from Konoha."

Corvo narrowed his eyes at this, clearly upset that a close ally would betray them in such a way. The mark on his left hand pulsating with power. He knew he should have searched Konoha first, despite the Hokage's reassurances that they were doing what they could to help find the missing boy.

"Say the word, and I will have him home before nightfall." He stated.

"As much as I would love that, I have something else in mind." Kushina sighed. "The girls will be entering the Chuunin Exams as genins. Their mission is to locate Naruto-kun and assess the situation, and extract him."

"Don't know if I should feel sorry for anyone who gets in their way." He commented with a small chuckle.

"However, with the information you have provided about this new Sound Village, and Orochimaru's plans to invade has given us a new opportunity." She continued. "When the invasion begins, I have a special mission for you. This is what I want you to do."

At this, Corvo paid rapt attention to his new mission he was being given. A grin twitching at his lips.

* * *

**Additional Authors Notes:** And that's a wrap!

We got to see a bit more Naruto and Sakura time, with our pinkette developing a crush on the blonde, now that she truly understands him, as well with him trusting her with one of his secrets. Also had a bit of a confrontation between Ino and Sakura, with our little mind walker also learning the truth. No, Ino will not be in the harem, as it is already set.

We also got to see my favorite couple, Naruto and Anko spend some time together. I was on the fence if I should have Naruto expose his plans to our snake mistress this early or not, but figured if anyone in the village would understand his plight, it would be her. And, Anko being Anko, kissed Naruto when he promised to get the seal off her. Such an Anko thing to do.

And yes, the next chapter will be the start of the Chuunin Exams. For the first time in seven years, the girls will finally get to see Naruto, and vice versa. Though, how is he going to explain his new snake mistress to the girls?

Also as noted, Kurama mentioned something about a family council when teasing Naruto. I am setting it up so that each of Naruto's wives has a say in how his house is operated. Will try to go into detail about that in a later chapter.

Anyways, hope everyone enjoyed this chapter. Feel free to let me know what you think in the reviews, or hit me up with a private message.


	6. Chapter 6

**Authors Notes:** And here it is, the chapter everyone has been waiting for!

Naruto and his girls finally meeting for the first time!

Question is, how will the girls react when they finally see him, and how will he react? Furthermore, how will Sakura and Anko react to these unidentified girls start to try and get close to our favorite blonde? One thing is for sure, jealousy will be abound. Mostly from Sakura, Anko will merely be amused.

So anyways, last chapter we saw implications of Kakashi moving along with his plan to nudge Sakura and Naruto together, though both had seemed to notice that this was something beyond mere team building exercises. Especially with Kurama pointing out the very likely possibility that his team mate has become a pawn for the old bastard.

We also got to see Ino corner Sakura bout her constant time hanging out with Naruto instead of obsessing over Sasuke. Which of course lead to our little mind walker learning about Naruto. With Sakura steering her around to show key memories. So while Ino knows that Naruto is called a demon and such, she is still unaware of the Kyuubi sealed within him, as Sakura had omitted that out of her memory tour. Not to mention, a bit of a hint that our little cherry blossom has developed a crush on our favorite blonde, now that she has actually gotten to know him and got away from Sasuke.

And then, we got to my own personal favorite part. Naruto and Anko interacting, and of course kissing. Not to mention, she is the one to give Naruto the idea to escape during the Chuunin Exams, though she is unaware of the invasion plan. She just knows that it will be crowded and hectic with foreigners constantly entering and leaving the village. So, we will get to see a bit more of how they plan to leave in this chapter.

Lastly, we got to see Kushina's own spymaster that makes Jiraiya look like an amateur, none other then Corvo Attano. With knowledge well beforehand of Orochimaru's plans to invade Konoha, she plans to use the invasion as a distraction for Corvo to complete his mission. Which I am sure everyone knows what it is by now. Hiruzen's little black book.

* * *

**Review Corner**

_**UnsanMusho –**_ Ino will become a friend, yes. Though, she will not develop a crush on him like Sakura has.

_**Antex-The Legendary Zoroark –**_ Yes, Kushina will be using the invasion as a distraction for Corvo to accomplish his own mission. Which is simply to raid the Hokage's office and find anything of note that looks important.

_**Re Lovely Lover –**_ For the most part, Hiruzen has kept Kushina and her shinobi out of Konoha with comforting lies that they have not given up the search and that his shinobi are looking for signs of Naruto whenever they go out on a mission. While at the same time, planting small seeds of doubt that Naruto could be dead by now.

He never intended to use the Kyuubi's power until Naruto was fully broken, and as stated, his first target would be Kushina's village to remove a potential threat to them in the future. So that is pretty much what the old goat was planning. To be fair, it would have worked if Kairi and the others didn't sense Kurama's chakra signature.

_**Naes151 –**_ There have been a few hints of how strong Berugakure is compared to the other villages. The most obvious was stating that while the girls are already Chuunin rank, their strength and skill are more close to that of a Jonin and ANBU. Also, when the girls met with Tazuna when they investigated Wave, the old bridge builder has thoughts that he would have hired their village instead, due to their strength.

As for the village itself, Berugakure is more technologically advanced then even Snow Country. So think of it kind of like Esther from Final Fantasy VIII. I will go more into the village when Naruto returns there. And fear not, you will get to see how strong the girls are in the exams.

_**Pay0505 –**_ Corvo's relationship to Naruto can be seen as he is more of an uncle. The spymaster has great respect and love for Kushina and her family, and no, he is not with Kushina. Corvo has his own wife.

_**KHOR30CAT – **_Yes, Corvo is from Dishonored, one of my favorite game franchises.

_**PraetorXyn –**_ Sadly, Uzu is no more. It got obliterated during the Second Shinobi War, there will be more on that later. Especially after a certain little black book comes to light. But, most of those that lived there had managed to escape to Berugakure.

As for the girls, that was part of the reason I introduced them in the harem list like I did. So even those unfamiliar with the franchise can get a good visualization on them, as well as mapping out some of their characteristics.

* * *

**Harem –** Anko, Aqua, Esdeath, Kairi, Koyuki, Morgiana, Pyrrha, Rory, Sakura, and Xion

Now then, on with the show!

* * *

**Remember Me**

Chapter 6

Naruto was not in the best of moods currently.

Just hours ago, the old bastard had made a surprise visit to his apartment, forcing the young blonde to dispel his blood clone. As the old man had made a habit of walking around the young teens apartment, in the guise of having a grandfatherly talk with the boy. Though Naruto had caught on what the bastard was really doing. Making a mental list of anything deemed 'too nice' for the weapon to own. It was no coincidence that shortly after one of this surprise visits from the old man, that his apartment would get broken into and vandalized. Often times with some of his more treasured items being stolen or destroyed.

He had originally had his suspicions before the Wave mission, though the loyalty seal that had been placed on him had prevented him from accusing the elderly man of doing such a thing. Fortunately, he begun to stash what few precious items he had in a secure spot away from his apartment, prior to his mission in Wave. Not that it was much. Only a few gifts that had been given to him by his few precious people.

Looking back, he was extremely grateful that he never removed his most precious of items, his necklace. Thanks to seals that had been placed their by his mother, making it so that even if the necklace were to somehow be removed, he would return right back to him within seconds. No doubt, that was one item the old bastard desperately wanted to remove from the boys possession. He could feel it every time Hiruzen glanced at the necklace. Simply because the necklace gave the boy a sense of individuality.

Unfortunately, the elder man had taken much longer then usual with his visit. No doubt double checking the blondes seals discreetly as he made small talk. By the time the Hokage had left the apartment, Naruto was already running behind. Forcing him to rush to meet with his team for the day. As such, he was unable to re-create his Blood Clone before he ran out the door, since creating such a clone required at least half an hour to complete. Meaning that until he could safely re-create a Blood Clone, he was vulnerable to the old bastards spying.

Of course he knew he would still be arriving early to the training ground, due to Kakashi's constant habit of being late, which would have given him time to complete the clone, but it would also attract unwanted attention on himself if he didn't continue on as normal. Thus, putting him in between a rock and a hard place.

Finally reaching his teams training ground, Naruto let out a tired yawn and settled himself against one of the training posts. He figured he would have at least another half hour before Sakura showed up, and then another fifteen minutes for Sasuke to arrive. Then finally, another two and a half hours before the bastard of a sensei and his kidnapper, would grace them with his appearance.

As he waited for the rest of his team to arrive, Naruto began to think back about his talk with Anko yesterday. After they impromptu make out session that the snake mistress had initiated, not that he minded, he had told her everything there was about him. Feeling that if she was going to leave the village with him, she should know everything. From his earlier years in Berugakure, his tenant, and of course, his engagement to the five girls. He had expected her to be upset at him for not telling her before she kissed him, but to his surprise, she merely teased him about having his own little harem.

Which had caused him to scowl slightly, he really didn't like the word harem. As it implied that those involved with him had no freewill and were merely there for his own pleasure. Instead, he informed the snake mistress that he preferred to see it as his own growing family. Something the snake mistress had found endearing.

Afterwards, they had begun discussing their plans to leave the village. Anko had informed him that the best time would be during the second phase of the Chuunin Exams, otherwise known as the finals. As it was customary for there to be some preliminary rounds to further weed out the participants, as well as a month long break between the preliminaries and the finals. Anko had explained that this was to allow the finalists to train themselves further to give them an edge of their opponent, and second, the month long break was there to allow foreigner dignitaries to arrive to witness the final matches.

With all the people coming and going, it would be the best time for the two of them to sneak out of the village and get a good head start towards Berugakure. Unknown to both of them, a rescue mission was in progress to get him out of the village.

"Morning Naruto-kun." A feminine voice broke the blonde out of his musings.

"Morning Sakura-chan." The blonde greeted, though was surprised at her use of the -kun suffix with his name.

Sakura had also seemed to notice this and blushed slightly. A little bit embarrassed. Not to mention, what Ino had pointed out the previous day had only brought forth what she did not want to admit, at least not yet. That she now had a crush on the blonde. Which was really awkward for her, since his crush on her died in Wave, only for her to develop one for him.

"I give it fifteen more minutes before Sasuke-teme arrives." Naruto noted as he stood up and stretched, allowing a series of pops and cracks to be heard. "Then another two and a half hours befor Kakashi-sensei to show up."

Sure enough, nearly fifteen minutes alter, Sasuke arrived on the training field. Being his usual brooding self. Opting to sit away from his other two team mates. Though he eyed the two suspiciously, trying to figure out what the two seemed different. The last Uchiha couldn't put his finger on it, but over the last month both Sakura and Naruto had subtly changed. Sakura now seemed to have more energy and actually begun to take her career as a kunoichi seriously. Not even pestering him for a single date in an entire month. If anything, aside from a standard greeting, she ignored him. Making Sasuke feel a bit conflicted. On one hand, he was relieved that she had begun to take her training more seriously. On the other, his days felt a little empty without her constant request for a date. Still, such emotions would only distract him from his goal to avenge his clan.

As for Naruto, the Uchiha didn't know, but he felt as if his blonde team mate was hiding something. Not just from him, but from everyone in the village. The boys posture gave the raven haired boy the distinct feeling that the blonde was way more aware of his surroundings then he let on. Not to mention, there were times it would appear the blonde would zone out, as if he was listening to something or something else. Then there was the fact that both Sakura and the blonde were becoming close to one another and constantly hanging out or training together in their spare time. Still, as long as they didn't get in his way or slow him down, he didn't care what they did.

As the three genin settled into their own activities with Naruto and Sakura quietly conversing with one another and Sasuke brooding by himself, time slowly ticked by. Eventually, after what seemed like an eternity had passed, the two and a half hour mark came, and went with no sign of their sensei.

"Well, looks like your timing is off." Sakura teased, though internally she was becoming frustrated that their sensei had yet to appear as it was starting to near the four hour mark, and still no sign of the lazy Jonin.

"Eh, something probably came up, you know how he is." The blonde shrugged as he glanced in the direction of the Hokage's Tower. _'Probably the beginning of the Chuunin Exams that Anko-chan told us about.'_

'_**She did say that it was starting this week, after she finished probing your tonsils.**__**'**_ Kurama voiced his opinion with a laugh, causing his host to blush at the memory.

'_Ero-fox.' _

* * *

**Hokage's Tower**

"I, Kurenai Yuhi, nominate my team of Hinata Hyuga, Kiba Inuzuka, and Shino Aburame for the Chuunin Exams." A red eyed beauty stated with confidence.

"I, Konoha's Sublime Green Beast of Prey, Maito Gai, nominate my YOUTHFUL team of Tenten Higurashi, Neji Hyuga, and my most youthful student, Rock Lee, for the Chuunin Exams." A large, well built man in a green jumpsuit proudly exclaimed, earning a series of sweat drops from his peers.

"I, Asuma Sarutobi, nominate my team of Shikamaru Nara, Ino Yamanaka, and Choji Akimichi for the Chuunin Exams." The bearded man calmly stated, taking a drag from the cigarette that was in his mouth.

Nodding at the Jonin sensei's nomination of their respected teams in front of him, Hiruzen turned his attention to the last remaining sensei, who of course had his nose stuck in his favorite orange book.

"And what about your team, Kakashi?"

Looking up from his book in a lazy manner, the masked Jonin let out a small sigh.

"I nominate my team for the Chuunin Exams." He replied lazily as he turned his attention back to his book, without a care in the world. Forgoing the usual standard introduction of the team members that the other sensei's had done before him.

"Very well." The Hokage stated as he rose from his desk, a small pile of papers in his hands that he begun to hand out to the Jonin sensei's before him. "Give these to your teams, have them fill them out and turn them in before the end of the day."

With a vocal affirmation, the three other sensei's departed the office. Leaving behind Kakashi who finally put his book away.

"Are you sure your team is ready?" Hiruzen eyed the masked Jonin skeptically. "Should the boy die, we will lose our weapon."

"All he has to do is survive the first half of the exam." Kakashi stated calmly. "Which, with the help of his team, he will."

"See to it that he does." The elder man stated in a cold tone. "I will not have our weapon lost before we can use it."

"Also." The silver haired man begun. "The Forest of Death portion of the test would be the perfect time for the Haruno girl to have an accident."

"Do you feel that the two of them have bonded enough?"

"While they are not intimate, she never leaves his side." Kakashi pointed out. "ANBU could handle it easily enough."

"No." The elder man shot down the idea. "We can't risk her surviving or worse, the weapon witnessing on of our own killing her. It would be best if one of the other Genin teams were to remove her."

At this, the old man had an idea.

"I'll talk to Danzo, and see if he can spare a team of disposable ROOT members." The Hokage stated. "They kill the girl, and the weapon kills again. For now, go and give your team their papers."

"As you wish, Hokage-sama." Kakashi bowed before leaving the elder man to his thoughts.

'_Hopefully this will be the final push to break the boys mind.'_

* * *

**Trai****ning Ground 7**

Frustrated.

That would be the best way to describe the trio that made up Team 7. They had been waiting for almost five hours now, and still, there was no sign of their sensei. At this point, for the first time since the teams creation, all three agreed on one thing. Kakashi Hatake would be late to his own funeral.

Though if it were up to Naruto, the bastard wouldn't even be given a proper burial.

"Yo!" A plum of smoke erupted from the top of the training pole that Sasuke had decided to lean against. "Sorry I'm late. A black cat crossed my path, so I had to take the long way around. But then I was forced into a hand walk race with a one armed yeti."

All three of the genins couldn't help but to sweat drop at the masked mans excuse this time. It was by far, the most outlandish one to date.

"So what are we doing today, Kakashi-sensei?" The blonde asked with genuine interest. "Any new missions?"

"Actually no." The man replied with an eye smile. "I nominated you three for the Chuunin Exams."

Jumping down off the post, he handed each of his students the slip of paper he had been given to allow them to enter the exams.

"Fill these out and have them turned in immediately."

Without giving any real instruction, he disappeared in another poof of smoke, leaving behind three bewildered genins.

"Well, I don't know about you two, but I am definitely entering." Naruto stated with a fox like grin. Earning a small smirk from the Uchiha.

"See you there, dobe." Sasuke stated with a smirk as he shoved the paper into his pocket and left the training field.

"Are you sure about this Naruto?" Sakura inquired, clearly worried.

"Of course I am Sakura-chan!" He exclaimed, giving her a reassuring smile. "We're strong enough to handle this. I can't let some test scare me if I am going to be Hokage some day!"

Though despite saying this, Naruto was worried on the inside. Knowing that the masked bastard was behind his kidnapping, he wasn't expecting him to actually nominate them for the exams. Hell, he was fully expected the pervert to come up with some bullshit excuse as to why they wouldn't be able to participate in the exams. Still, if he backed out now, it would only bring scrutiny down upon him and jeopardize his chance to escape the village.

"Well, I am going to go fill my slip out and turn it in." Naruto stated to the pinkette. "Just know Sakura-chan, that if you don't think you are ready for it, I will not think any less of you."

Receiving a nod from the pink haired girl, the blonde set off to submit himself into the exams.

'_No, I can not let Naruto-kun down.'_ Sakura thought to herself. _'We are ready for this!'_

'_**Let's show them, cha!'**_

* * *

**Konoha Gates, Two Hours Later**

As late afternoon hung over the village, six figures made their way towards the massive gates. A flurry of emotions swirling between all of them. A mixture of excitement, anxiety, and a small trace of fear. At the head of the group was Kairi. The young red head was eager to see her fiance for the first time in seven years, despite Aqua reminding her to keep her expectations tempered, and to be emotionally prepared for anything.

"So what's the plan, Nagato-sensei?" Xion inquired, shifting the weight of the massive blade she now carried on her back. "Should we ask around and look for Naruto-kun right away or…."

"No, do not ask about him." Answered the red haired man that was acting as their Jonin Sensei for the exams. "We know that Hatake kidnapped him, no doubt under the Hokage's orders. If you were to ask around for him, it would alert them to our true purpose."

Xion nodded in response, though like her red headed friend, she was also anxious to see him again. It was the feeling of being so close, yet so far away at the same time.

"I don't know about you guys, but I am starving." Morgiana pipped in as a small grumbling noise could be heard from her stomach, causing her to blush in embarrassment and eliciting a round of giggles from the others.

"When we arrive in Konoha, you all get our hotel rooms." Aqua, the true leader of the mission stated. "I will stop at the ramen stand that Kushina-sama had recommended we try before we left."

"What if we see Naruto-kun?" Rory asked, prompting the blue haired girl in front of them to stop abruptly and turn towards the group that also stopped.

"If you see him, approach him with caution." The young blue haired woman stated calmly. "We don't know how he will react, nor do we know how closely he is being watched over. If you can talk with him, be subtle and assess the situation."

"Understood, Aqua-chan." The halberd wielding beauty replied.

"Also, as tempting as it is, do not attack any of the Konoha shinobi unless attacked first." The blue haired woman continued. "Keep in mind, there may be innocents."

Both Morgiana and Rory adopted a scowl on their faces. The two of them really wanted to dish out some personal justice to the village, but their future sister wife had a point. Short of those involved blatantly advertising it, there would be no way to tell who was innocent and who was not in the kidnapping of their beloved.

"Also mind your emotions for anyone who may speak out against young Naruto." Nagato pointed out. "As you know, only Kumogakure and Berugakure on the only two Hidden Villages that treat their jinchuriki with respect."

"Do you think his status as a jinchuriki was leaked to the public?" Kairi asked in a worried tone.

"I wouldn't put it past the old man." The red haired male sighed. "It's common practice to abuse the jinchuriki both mentally and physically in most villages to mentally condition them. Though from what you give had reported from Wave, it seems he hasn't been broken yet. Which is good."

"Let's hurry then, and bring our beloved home." Xion stated, earning nods of agreement.

Another twenty minutes saw that at the gates of the village. Quickly signing in with the two Chuunin that were on gate duty, the Berugakure group entered the village of Konoha. Sticking to the plan, Aqua split off from the group to acquire some ramen, while the other group made their way towards the hotel to reserve the rooms for the duration of the exams. Each of their eyes sharp, looking for any trace of their lost loved one.

While Aqua went off to get the food, the rest of the Berugakure group continued on towards the Sleepy Willow Inn, an extravagant premier hotel within Konoha. Earning some curious looks from the various villagers, and some of the shinobi, as Berugakure shinobi were rarely seen within Konoha. As they approached the hotel, the group was approached by three genins from Konoha. One with a dark pair of sun glasses hiding his eyes, while a large coat covered the lower half of his face. Beside him was a shy looking girl with pearly white eyes and lavender colored hair. The last was a feral looking boy with a white puppy on his head, two red upside down triangles adorning his face.

"Damn, you look good." The feral boy stated as his team approached the group, all while eyeing Morgiana up and down. Causing her to narrow her eyes slightly.

"Kiba-san, please do not harass our guests." The boy in the large coat said in a monotone voice, before turning his attention towards the group as a whole. "If I am to guess, you are here for the Chuunin Exams?"

"That is correct, umm…." Xion replied, though her tone held a cold edge to it.

"Forgive me, my name is Shino Aburame." The boy now identified as Shino introduced himself before gesturing to his two team mates. "And this is Hinata Hyuga, and Kiba Inuzuka."

"Pleased to meet you." Kairi gave a small bow. "My name is Kairi, and these are Xion, Rory, Morgiana, and our sensei, Nagato."

Is was with the introduction of the only male in the group, did the members of Team 8 notice the taller, red haired man. His piercing blue eyes focusing in on the three of them. Making it feel as if he were gazing into their very soul. Shaking off his shock, Kiba turned his attention back towards the pink haired girl.

"So, Morgiana-chan." He grinned. "How would you like to go on a date with a true alpha?"

At this, the girl in question leveled a cold glare at the boy.

"Not interested." She merely replied with a scoff.

"Aw come on, don't be like that." The boy persisted, much to the annoyance of the rest of the girls, and the embarrassment of his own team. "I'm sure once you see just how much of an alpha I am, you'll fall for me."

"Not likely, mutt." Morgiana growled out, as the boy was getting on her nerves. "And I will have you know, I am already engaged to someone."

"Really, who is it?" Kiba all but demanded, a growl in his voice that someone dare lay claim on what he perceived as his. "I'll beat him down and then make you submit to me."

At this, all of the girls cast a dark glare at the boy. The fact that he had the audacity to threaten their beloved had angered them. Even more so, was the fact that the boy showed he cared nothing for loyalty and integrity and no doubt, viewed women as only trophies.

"So is this how Konoha shinobi view loyalty and commitment?" Xion inquired, turning towards the feral boy, a cold look in her golden eyes. "If so, perhaps our village should reevaluate our alliance."

"Kiba-kun, you're making our village look bad." Spoke the shy Hyuga girl in a soft voice.

"Please forgive our team mate, we believe his sister dropped him on his head when he was an infant." Shino stated in his monotone voice, though earned a few curious looks from his team mates that the normally all serious Aburama had cracked a joke at his team mates expense.

"We hope you enjoy your stay in our village." Hinata bowed.

"Yeah, I'll be seeing you later." Kiba said, not taking his eyes off Morgiana.

"I swear, that mutt better pray to Kami we don't get matched up against each other." Morgiana growled, clenching her fist tightly. "Because so help me if we do, he is not walking away whole."

"I have to say Xion-san, you handled that rather well." Nagato commented. "Calling into question their stance on loyalty and integrity."

He then turned towards the pink haired kunoichi.

"And I am proud of you as well, Morgiana-san. You restrained yourself well, when faced with the boys arrogance."

"Thank you, Nagato-sensei." The two girls smiled.

"Now, let us be off."

* * *

**Naruto**

It had been non stop all afternoon for the young blonde.

As decided, he had immediately filled out his sheet and entered himself into the Chuunin Exams, ignoring the glare the receptionist gave him when he turned in his paper. Then he had stopped off to visit Anko, whom was none to pleased that he had entered the exams. It had taken some time to calm her down, as well as a few kisses, but in the end, she relented. It would seem out of character for him to not attempt to pass the exams.

Having calmed the snake mistress, Naruto now found himself seated at his favorite place, with a hot bowl of ramen in front of him. Probably the only thing in the village he would miss when him and Anko finally escape this cesspool, but then again, no matter how good Ichiraku's was, it still didn't compare to his mothers home cooking.

However, he froze mid bite as he sensed someone. Cautiously, he turned his head just slightly to see out of the corner of his eye, the blue haired beauty whom was frozen in place behind him.

'_She's here! __If she's here, then the others are probably with her! What do I do? I can't talk openly with her.__'_ He mentally exclaimed, cursing himself for not taking the time to re-create his blood clone. Knowing that a squad of ANBU was observing him now. Though he didn't recognize the chakra signatures.

'_**Calm down kit and think.'**_ Kurama stated as beast pondered the situation. _**'What about that game you and the girls played during your preliminary school days, when you would send each other secret messages?'**_

'_Game…__. Secret messages?'_ Naruto's eyes suddenly widened in realization. _'That's it!'_

'_**I suggest a late night meeting in training ground 44, since no one ever goes there except for Anko.'**_

'_Right.'_

Doing what he could to calm himself, Naruto took another bite from his ramen and waited for his blue haired goddess to approach the stand. It was clear that she recognized him. He didn't have to wait long, as the young woman entered the stand a took a seat next to him.

"Welcome to Ichiraku's, what can I get you?" Ayame asked the new arrival with her usual cheer.

"Six large Miso ramen to go please." Aqua politely ordered, prompting the young waitress to disappear back into the kitchen, leaving the two alone.

"First time here?" Naruto asked, striking up a conversation with the blue haired beauty. All the while, tapping his finger on the counter with his left hand.

Aqua narrowed her eyes slightly in thought as he listened to the rhythm of the taps. Racking her memory before she realized what he was doing. It was obvious her blonde beloved was under scrutiny form the village, so he was giving her a message in code.

'_Training Ground 44, midnight.'_

"Yes, my team and I are here for the Chuunin Exams." Aqua answered, while also tapping her finger in another series of taps.

'_Understood.'_

"I'm in the exams too." Naruto smiled, causing her heart to melt. To finally be able to see his radiant smile after so many years of being without it.

"Here you go, that'll be 6,000 ryo." Ayame informed the blue haired young woman.

Nodding, Aqua dug into her pouch only to be stopped by Naruto. Subtly giving her a wink, causing the normally stoic woman to blush lightly.

"Here, let me take care of that for you." He stated as he brought out his own wallet and paid for her food.

"Thank you, umm."

"Naruto, Naruto Uzumaki."

"Thank you again, Naruto-ku…-san." She almost slipped up. "I hope to see you in the exams."

Nodding, Naruto turned back to his meal as Aqua departed the ramen stand with an invigorated pace to return to the hotel and tell the others the good news.

'_Oh sure, now the fuckers leave.'_ Naruto mentally grumbled as he felt the chakra signatures of the ANBU that had been watching him fade away.

* * *

**Aqua**

The young bluenette wasted no time in returning to the hotel that the other girls were residing. Locking on to their chakra signatures, she quickly used her frost shunshin and appeared inside the room the give girls would be sharing, where as Nagato had taken a room for himself. Calming herself, she set the food on the table and took a deep breath to try and calm her emotions, which failed as she let out an excited squeal that attracted everyone's attention.

"Aqua-chan, are you alright?" Kairi inquired as she entered the kitchen area with the others. Each sporting a confused and curious look, as the blue haired teen hardly ever let her emotions get the best of her.

"Well…" She smiled. "I ran into Naruto-kun and the ramen stand."

As soon as his name left her mouth, the others were immediately upon her. Asking what he looked like, if he remembered them, and above all, if he was all right.

"Yes, he remembers us, but he is being monitored." She sadly explained. "But he will be in the exams."

"So, we don't get to see him until tomorrow afternoon then?" Xion asked, sadness in her voice.

"No." Aqua answered with a smile. "We are to meet with him tonight at midnight in training ground 44."

Hearing this, all of the girls seemed to brighten up. The thought of finally being able to reunite with their beloved greatly lifting their spirits. Giving them hope that everything was going to be alright.

"Be sure to inform Nagato-sensei." Aqua reminded them, mostly so the elder Uzumaki man didn't need to worry about them.

* * *

**Eight Hours Later**

After the encounter with Aqua at the ramen stand, Naruto had wasted no time in returning to his apartment and re-creating his Blood Clone. That old bastard be damned, he was not going to miss the chance to reconnected with his girls.

Now, he found himself pacing back and fourth in the middle of the Forest of Death, otherwise known as Training Ground 44. This of course was getting on the Kyuubi's nerves, but he kept quiet. Kurama understood how his host felt, and pitied him. Suddenly, he froze as he felt five very familiar and very warm chakra signatures a short distance behind him. Slowly turning, he saw his girls. A look of worry and relief etched in all of their faces.

Seeing them again, tears formed in his eyes, unable to hold back his emotions that were surging within him. Facing them, he made one step forward before he was tackled to the ground by a crying red head. Instinctively, he wrapped his arms around the crying form of Kairi and embraced her with a firm hug. Almost as if he was afraid she would disappear if he let go.

"It's really you!" Kairi cried into his chest, before leaning up and giving him a full kiss on the mouth. One he gladly returned.

By now the others had gathered around their blonde beloved. Each embracing them in their own hugs and kisses after Kairi and reluctantly relinquished him from her grip.

"What happened Naruto-kun?" Rory asked, tears streaming down her face. "Why didn't you try and contact us?"

Letting out a sigh, the young blonde sat down on a fallen log, prompting the girls to do the same.

"Guess I better start from the beginning." He stated.

* * *

**Additional Authors Notes: **And that's a wrap!

Naruto has finally reunited with his girls in an emotional reunion!

I was playing with the idea of having Hiruzen spy on Naruto when he interacts with Aqua, but I kind of wanted for it to be a surprise for him when he realizes the girls from Berugakure are also in the exams. Also making it so that it is too late for him to pull Naruto from it. So, I had some ROOT ANBU watch over him instead, which fits I think. Especially with what Hiruzen is planning.

Also, we got to see Kiba be, well, Kiba. Bad news for him that he focused on Morgiana. And for those of you wondering, yes. He will end up facing her in the preliminaries. Why? Because I am evil like that!

As for Hinata. While she is still shy, due to Naruto not being in the village until after he was seven, she does not have the same crush on him as she normally would. Though she is still inspired by his determination to not give up, and respects his inner strength. If that makes sense.

Anyways, hope everyone enjoyed this chapter. Feel free to leave your thoughts and comments in the reviews, or hit me up with a private message.


	7. Chapter 7

**Authors Notes:** Kind of funny that both of my Naruto stories are entering the Chuunin Exams at the same time.

Anyways, last chapter the girls finally made it to Konoha, with poor Morgiana having to deal with Kiba and his 'I'm an alpha, and you will submit to me' attitude. Though it did allow Xion to get a jab in at how their village views loyalty and commitment. Not to mention the initial meeting between Naruto and Aqua, and their coded message to one another, which lead to the final reunion between Naruto and his girls.

We also got to see more of Hiruzen's plot to further torment Naruto, with his latest plan of targeting Sakura during the second phase of the exams in hopes of mentally breaking Naruto.

Now, as for the Blood Clone. I knew that I wanted Naruto to use a blood clone to act as a decoy, but I also didn't want to make it so that he could simply create one on the spot. So, opted for a ritual of sorts to create a blood clone that requires knowledge and understanding of Fuinjutsu. In which Naruto would have to create an array of seals in a circle on the floor, with himself and the blood in the very center.

The amount of blood used is roughly 50ml, give or take.

Not too much, but at the same time, not something he can just do with reckless abandon. Of course the time consuming part comes from chakra being added to the blood to allow it to form into the actual blood clone. Especially for Naruto, since he has to combine his own chakra and Kurama's chakra at the same time.

So there you have it, for those of you who were curious as to my use of the blood clone technique.

* * *

**Review Corner**

_**HyperA2019 –**_ Hiruzen won't die, but I do have something planned for him, and the others involved with Naruto's kidnapping.

_**Unlimited Fic Works –**_ Yes, Emily is around. I wanted her in the harem early on, but she didn't get enough votes, sadly. Though she will make an appearance in future chapters as one of the girls friends.

_**Antex-The Legendary Zoroark –**_ Spoiler Alert, Kiba is going to get paired up against Morgiana during the preliminaries. And it is going to be a one sided fight. As already stated, the girls are well above mere genin.

_**RonanTheAccuser –**_ No, Orochimaru is on his own side. Kushina is just using his invasion as a distraction to have her own missions carried out. One of course being the extraction of her son, and the second being the special mission she had assigned Corvo.

_**Pay0505 – **_Yup, the same Nagato. While they are not active, he does have the Rinnegan still. We'll see a bit more of him during the exams. Though for obvious reasons, he will not like Kakashi.

_**JintoLin – **_I loved that part as well, I figured Aqua would be the best choice to be the first to run into Naruto, since she is more in control of her emotions. Though as seen, she does have her limits when she squealed like a school girl once she arrived back at the hotel.

For Aqua's near slip up, no one of note to worry about noticed. As for Sakura, fear not. Naruto will protect her and now that he is no longer being hindered by seals, his skills are more then enough to handle a few rookie ROOT members.

Kiba will survive, but he may have a sudden fear of the color pink for awhile after the match.

_**Romance Breeding and Story Artist (Guest Reviewers) –**_ Both of you make a fair point that there is a lack of representation of dark skinned girls in the harem, and even in the series. I will see what I can do to remedy this by the next chapter.

_**Gear's Creed – **_I have no current plans to add lemon scenes to this particular story. As stated, should that I happen, I will make the proper changes.

* * *

**Harem –** Anko, Aqua, Esdeath, Kairi, Koyuki, Morgiana, Pyrrha, Rory, Sakura, and Xion

Now then, on with the show!

* * *

**Remember Me**

Chapter 7

All five of the girls silently seethed in anger and disgust as their blonde lover had finished his tale of what had exactly happened on his end. How he had two seals placed upon him that blocked his memories and made him loyal to only the Hokage, and by extension, Konoha. Though each silently thankful that Kurama's chakra had finally managed to break the seals that had kept their love subdued. What even infuriated them further was how the old bastard had allowed the village to treat Naruto. Everything from the beatings to being sabotaged in his schooling. Even further, when the girls learned that Hiruzen had lied to Naruto about his parents, playing them off as some poor civilians that died during the Kyuubi attack.

Which begged the question, why did Hiruzen allow Naruto to keep his name?

From what both Kurama and Naruto could determine, it was simply because his Uzumaki blood would not allow him to forget his proud heritage. While the memory seal worked to make him forget his mother and those close to him, he always remembered his name. The young blonde had recalled when Hiruzen had attempted to have him be named Menma, only for Naruto to correct him every time that his name was Naruto, not Menma.

After a few days, the elder Hokage had given up on changing the jinchuriki's name and came up with a bullshit cover story that he had given the orphaned boy the name of Kushin'a missing son in honor of the lost boy. If only just to ward off any suspicions from Kushina's close friends that still resided within the village. The civilian families ate it up, as did most of the Shinobi clan heads, with only Tsume of the Inuzuka clan showing any signs of suspicion. If the feral woman did suspect anything, she kept it to herself.

"And that's pretty much it." Naruto finished with a sigh.

"Wait, did that old bastard really try to change your name to Menma?" Rory inquired with a sneer.

"Yeah." The blonde teenage boy sighed. "Son of a bitch wanted to completely erase my identity. There was also several times he tried to take my necklace from me, though thanks to the seals Kaa-chan put on it, it never worked."

"Um, speaking of which." Naruto frowned in confusion. "Why are you girls here, not that I am complaining."

This of course earned a round of giggles from the girls.

"Well, after we felt Kurama-sama's chakra signature, Kushina-sama speculated that it came from Wave Country and sent us to investigate it." Aqua began with a soft smile, as it was the day that hope reignited in all of them.

'_**Explains why Xion-chan has Zabuza's old sword.'**_ Kurama commented, earning a mental nod from the blonde.

"We missed you by a week." Kairi commented sadly.

"Sorry." Naruto sheepishly rubbed the back of his head.

"But it's okay now." The red haired girl smiled and latched onto the blonde. "After we learned you were here, Kushina-sama sent us here to bring you back home. We can leave tomorrow!"

At this, all of the other girls agreed. However, it didn't go unnoticed that Naruto didn't show the same excitement. Slowly, the blonde shook his head with a sigh, though before the girls could ask him why, he turned his head and looked at a near by tree.

"You can come out now, Anko-chan." He called out, much to the confusion of the girls.

After a few seconds of silence, the lithe form of Konoha's snake mistress came into view as she stepped out from behind the tree that Naruto had been looking at. A mixture of surprise, concern, and a bit of sadness evident on her face as she slowly approached the group. While she knew of the girls and Naruto's connection to them, she was still surprised to see all five of them here within the village. Especially hearing that they were here specifically to find him, and bring him back home.

This was also why the normally confident snake mistress was feeling concerned. Now that the girls from Berukagure were here, more specifically, they were here for him. Not the Chuunin Exams, but for Naruto himself. Despite how ludicrous it seemed, Anko felt a sense of fear fester to life within her that now that Naruto had a means to escape, he would abandon her. However, her musings were cut short when she felt a pair of arms embrace her.

"I know what you're thinking Hebi-hime." The blonde smiled at her. "I will not abandon you. We stick to the plan."

"Umm, Naruto-kun, who is she?" Kairi asked, with the others each looking to their blonde beloved

"Ah, forgive me." Naruto stated with a small bow in apology for the lack of introductions. "Ladies, this is Anko Mitarashi, she will be coming with us back to Berugakure. Anko, these are my fiances I told you about."

"Hey there." Anko greeted cheerfully. Though Naruto could see that it was a front that she was putting on. He knew she was scared. Scared that he would leave her, and scared that the girls would not accept her.

"Nice to meet you, I'm Kairi." Kairi smiled, embracing the snake mistress in a hug, much to Anko's shock.

"I am Aqua." The blue haired young woman introduced herself with a smile. "And on behalf of all of us, I would like to thank you for looking after Naruto-kun."

"It was nothing." Anko tried to wave it off as no big deal. "I didn't do much actually."

"You did more then you can imagine, just for being there for him when we couldn't." Xion stated, before introducing herself. "Name's Xion by the way."

"Xion-chan is right, Anko-chan." Rory commented with her own smile. "I'm Rory, also known as the Reaper."

"Wait, you're Rory the Reaper!?" Anko exclaimed in shock that someone so young had earned such a reputation throughout the Elemental Nations. Especially since she begun to earn her alias when she was only seven.

"He he, yup." The ruby eyed, black haired girl giggled, scratching the back of her head sheepishly.

"We all took Naruto-kun's disappearance hard. Rory-chan just decided to use every bandit camp she saw to take out her frustration for an entire week." Morgiana explained just how her future sister wife got her title. "By the way, I am Morgiana."

"Well ladies, looks like we got a new future sister-wife." Aqua grinned, teasingly bopping Naruto on the head lightly, which prompted him to nervously chuckle while scratching the back of his head.

Anko however was in tears. Through out her years living in Konoha, she would have never have dreamed of being so easily accepted by the others. Not to say she didn't have any friends within the village, but their number was small. While there was no end to the people who would fake sympathy and concern all for a chance to get into her pants. Of course once they were denied, they always showed their true colors.

Seeing this, the five girls brought the snake mistress in for a comforting hug. Each whispering their own comforting words to the young woman.

"So, what's this about a plan?" Aqua inquired, once Anko had calmed down.

"Well, Anko-chan and I were already planning on leaving the village during the finales." Naruto begun to explain. "As it is customary for there to be a month break in between the second phase of the exam and the finals, and with all the Daimyos, Kage's, and other other foreign visitors, it would be easier to sneak out and be long gone before anyone noticed we were missing. Especially since I am planning on leaving a Blood Clone behind with Kurama's chakra to throw them off the scent for awhile."

"During the finals?" Xion asked, earning a nod from the snake mistress and the blonde.

"That's when Orochimaru is suppose to be invading Konoha." Rory commented.

At the mention of Orochimaru, Anko immediately snapped her attention to the black haired girl.

"Did you say Orochimaru?"

"Yes, he plans to invade Konoha during the final matches." Morgiana answered.

"Yeah, the snake bastard plans on using the Suna shinobi as cannon fodder while he holds his own shinobi back." Rory commented with a sneer. "Not to mention, he will be using Suna's Jinchuriki to spear head the attack."

Naruto could see the anger rising up within the snake mistress at the mention of her former sensei's name, and that he was going to be within the village during the exams. Reaching up, he gently guided Anko's face to his own, allowing him to stare into her eyes.

"I know how you feel about that bastard Anko-chan." He spoke softly. "But don't let your vendetta jeopardize our main goal. I promise you, Hebi-hime, if he survives this invasion of his, we will track him down and kill him ourselves. But first, let's focus on getting out of this hell hole."

"You're right, Naruto-kun." The snake mistress agreed. "I'm sorry for letting my emotions get to me. I just want to see that bastard drown in his own blood for what he did to me, um speaking of which, how do you know so much about his plan?"

"Probably Corvo-oji-san." The blonde chuckled, earning nods from the five girls. "He is my mothers number one spy master and assassin. He never explained how he does it, but he can get into any place without detection."

"Yup." Kairi agreed.

"Well, initially our mission was to find and extract Naruto-kun." Aqua began with a smile. "But we will not leave you behind, Anko-chan. We will report to Kushina-sama our findings, and of the change of plans and continue to partake in the exams as normal."

"However," Naruto sighed. "The hard part will be for us to continue to act like we don't know each other until we leave. Meaning this will be the only time we can really be together."

All five of the girls look disheartened at this, but they knew their blonde beloved had a point. During the exams, he wouldn't be able to keep his blood clone up to run distraction. So they all would have to act as if they didn't recognize him, with the exception of Anko, though even she wouldn't be able to be open with the blonde as she had already been selected to be the proctor of the second phase of the exams.

"If that's the case, let's make this night count." Rory stated as she wrapped her arms around Naruto, planting a firm kiss on the blonde teens lips. Of course this prompted a perverted giggle from the snake mistress.

"Not like that Anko-chan." Morgiana chuckled, sensing the snake mistresses line of thought.

"That comes later." Aqua added with a mischievous grin.

'_**Hey kit, maybe you should put that seal on them you've been working on.'**_ Kurama reminded his host. _**'That way everyone who bares the seal will know when another is in danger, and their location.'**_

'_That's actually a good idea.'_ Naruto mentally nodded.

"Would you girls mind if I put a seal on you?" Naruto suddenly asked, catching all of the girls attention.

"Um, what does it do, Naruto-kun?" Kairi asked.

"Kurama and I have been working on it for awhile. Anyone who has the seal will be able to feel when another is in danger, and give a rough location of where they are." The blonde replied.

"I trust you Naruto-kun." Xion stated as she stepped forward, volunteering to be the first one to have the seal placed upon her.

Nodding, Naruto took out his fuinjutsu ink and brush and set to work on the seal, which he had decided to put on her right shoulder blade. He really didn't have a fancy name for it, and settled for just calling it a "Lover's Seal", since he only planned on placing it on his loved ones. What made these special and what really linked the seals together, was that each seal was infused with a small amount of Kurama's chakra. Just enough to power the seal, though still too little to cause any damage to the person.

One by one, each of the girls got the seal placed upon them. All in the same location, due to how easy it would be to hide it, and also the fact that it was easier for Naruto to get to without putting his girls in any embarrassing positions. Even Anko got the seal placed upon her, though she had teased the young blonde that she wanted it on her left breast. Though much to her dismay, Naruto had politely refused with a severe blush on his face.

Once done, the girls had decided that if tonight was going to be the only time they were going to be able to be with their beloved, they were going to sleep under the stars and make the most of the little time they had together. Each laying down in a circle with their heads facing the inside of the circle, so that they could all be close to one another.

* * *

**Hokage's Office, Next Morning**

Hiruzen hummed a happy tune to himself as he sat down at his desk and began to sift through the pile of paper work that had already accumulated in the few short hours the village had woken up. Still, he did nothing to sour his mood.

Why?

Because Danzo had agree to send a small team of three freshly trained ROOT recruits to kill the Haruno girl. Though there was a slight disagreement on what village the team should be from. Hiruzen had insisted that they ROOT recruits wear the Berukagure headband, to try and force the jinchuriki to lash out at his former village in anger and implant a sense of hatred towards it.

Danzo however, had argued against it. Stating that it would be best if his ROOT recruits simply posed as a neutral village. Citing that it would help in the long run and make the weapon more open to attacking any target ordered to without question, instead of relying on a grudge against just one village. Reluctantly, Hiruzen had conceded, as the old war hawk had a point. It would do him or the village any good if the weapon was only focused on one target.

However, his cheerful tune quickly ceased when he picked up the previous days sign in sheet from the main gates of the village. Seeing a series of names, as well as the village of their origin. Berugakure. Upon reading the names of the visitors and the name of the village, all the color drained away from his face as he felt a chill go up his spine. All the while cursing himself for calling the council meeting the previous day to go over the major and minor details of the Chuunin Exams, thus making it so that he could not spy on the boy throughout most of the day. And when he did finally check on the boy, he was fast asleep in his apartment.

"Boar!" The elder man called out, immediately a large man bearing the boar masked appeared in a kneeling position in front of the village leader.

"Yes, Hokage-sama?"

"Your team was assigned to follow the Jinchuriki yesterday. Did anyone approach him at any point throughout the day?"

"Not really, sir." The Boar ANBU reported. "He met with his team as instructed and received his slip to enter the Chuunin Exams. The boy did his typical speech about accepting the challenge if he plans to become the Hokage someday. The only event of note was during his visit to the ramen stand, one of the girls from Berukagure entered and ordered six Miso Ramen to go."

"Did it appear that they knew each other?" Hiruzen asked carefully. Knowing full well all of the girls that had come to attend the exams were friends with the boy at some point. Which made him a little suspicious of their arrival.

"No sir." The ANBU replied. "The Jinchuriki had struck up an idle conversation with her and merely wished her luck in the exams before she departed the stand."

'_It seems my initial fears were unfounded.'_ Hiruzen thought to himself. _'__It's too late to withdraw the weapon from the exams.' _The elder man mentally sighed._ '__So long as the seals hold, he will have no memory of them and it appears they have forgotten about him. Good, if anything else, I can use this to motivate him against his former home later.'_

"Thank you for your report, Boar." The Hokage stated. "You are dismissed."

Nodding, the Boar masked ANBU disappeared in a puff of smoke, leaving the village elder to his own thoughts.

'_Even if they are here, the weapon should be close to being mentally broken.'_ Hiruzen grinned to himself at the thought of finally being able to wield the power of the Kyuubi. _'The Haruno girls death should be the last straw. If not, I may have to arrange an accident with Anko Mitarashi.'_

* * *

**Academy**

Naruto let out a tired yawn as he approached the academy to meet up with his team. Despite only having a few hours of sleep, the young blonde felt rather refreshed after spending the night with his fiances for the first time in over seven years. He also found out that Anko was a cuddler, much to the other girls amusement, when the blonde had woken up with the snake mistress wrapped around his body. Having bid his farewells to his fiances, Naruto had quickly made a mad dash towards his apartment and dispelled his Blood Clone before quickly taking a cold shower and getting dressed for the days events.

"Morning Naruto." Sakura greeted the blonde as he approached, biting her lip to prevent her from openly using the -kun suffix she desperately wanted to add to his name. Having come to terms with her crush on the blonde.

"About time you got here, dobe." Sasuke stated as he kicked off the wall he had been leaning against.

"Heh, sorry about that, had a few things to take care of before I came here." Naruto chuckled, while scratching the back of his head.

At this, Sasuke merely grunted in response, while Sakura eyed him suspiciously. The pinkette could tell that her blonde friend was not being completely honest, but had decided not to push the issue. At least for now, though she did make a mental note to corner the blonde teen about it later.

"You two ready?" Naruto asked, earning a confident grunt from the Uchiha, which Naruto took as a 'yes', and a nod from Sakura.

With that, the trio made their way inside the academy. As they made their way up a flight of stairs, they were immediately greeted with a swarm of people crowding around a door that was supposedly the room they were required to enter to start the exams. Though two Chuunin ranked Shinobi were blocking any and all from entering. Being exceptionally rough to a young girl with her brown haired tied up into two buns, giving her sort of a panda like appearance.

"Beat it twerps." One of the Chuunin stated. "You're too weak to even attempt this exam."

"Hey!" The girl exclaimed as she hit the floor, glaring up at her assailant.

One of the chuunin smirked as he went to deliver another powerful kick to the downed kunoichi, only for it to be blocked with a loud crack by the blonde jinchuriki, much to the surprise of those present. Naruto on the other hand merely glared at the man before him.

"You alright?" Naruto asked the kunoichi behind him, earning a nod in confirmation.

However, before anything else could be said, Sasuke had approached the duo with an arrogant smirk.

"Drop the pathetic genjutsu, this is only the second floor." He proudly stated.

Hearing this, many whom had gathered all mentally groaned that they had fallen for such an obvious trick, while others silently made their way up the next flight of steps. Naruto meanwhile, mentally slapped his forehead, since he knew the genjutsu was to weed out those who were not observant enough to make it in the exams. Sakura on the other hand, wasn't so keen to bite her tongue.

"Sasuke," She sighed. "That was to weed out those not ready to take this exam."

"You should listen to your team mate." One of the chuunin stated as he dropped the henge, revealing himself to be an ANBU. "You just paved the way for the death of many potential genin."

"If they are that weak, they shouldn't have become shinobi." Was all Sasuke commented with before ascending up the flight of stairs.

Naruto and Sakura were about to follow before they were stopped by the bun haired girl, and what appeared to be her teammates.

"Um, thank you for helping me back there." The girl stated with a slight bow. "My name is Tenten, Tenten Higurashi. Konoha's weapons mistress."

"Nice to meet you Tenten-san." Naruto replied. "I'm Naruto Uzumaki, Konoha's Prankster King."

This caused the girl now identified as Tenten to giggle as she recalled some of the blondes exploits. While his painting of the Hokage Monument was his most stand out achievement, considering he did it in broad daylight, another incident came to mind for the budding weapon's mistress. One of which involved a fair number of the Hyuuga clan members falling victim of their under garments being laced with itching powder. The only ones spared were most of the branch family, save for Neji, and only a handful from the main branch. Namely Hinata, Hanabi, and surprisingly, Hiashi.

It had been extremely amusing to the bun haired girl to watch her team mate desperately try to now scratch himself during their training sessions. As such an action was not befitting a member of the great Hyuga clan.

"It was very youthful of you to defend Tenten-chan!" An excited teen with a bowl haircut, dressed in a green spandex outfit exclaimed. "I'm Rock Lee, Konoha's Beautiful Green Wild Beast! You must be strong to be able to block such an attack. I would like to spar with you right now!"

"Normally, I would love to take you up on a friendly spar, but we don't want to be late for the exams." Naruto pointed out, earning a nod of agreement from Sakura, as well as Tenten. "But perhaps we can spar later."

"Yosh! You make a great point, Naruto-kun!" Rock Lee exclaimed. "We must hurry to complete this exam. If I fail to complete it, I will do 500 laps around the village on my hands!"

"Is he always like that?" The blonde asked, cocking his head to the side as he watched the excitable young genin dash up the stairs, continuing to rant on about various ludicrous challenges he would do if he failed.

"You have no idea." Tenten sighed. "Good luck in the exams."

With a bow, she departed with her final teammate that had refused to introduce himself.

"Well, shall we?" Naruto asked his pink haired teammate, earning a nod before the two of them departed up the stairs, unaware of a trio of eyes following their movements.

Reaching the top of the stairs, and finally on the floor they were suppose to be on, the two were greeted by the sight of Kakashi waiting for them, with Sasuke leaning against the wall in a bored fashion. The masked jonin eyed the two for a moment, almost as if he wanted to say something about how long it took the two of them to arrive.

"Good, all three of you made it." Kakashi stated with his trade mark eye smile. "Because if even one of you decided not to come, the rest of the team would have been disqualified from the exams."

"Wait, why didn't you warn us about that yesterday?" Sakura asked, a little annoyed that the silver haired man had purposely left out a crucial piece of information.

"Because whether or not you took the exam was up to you." He replied with the same eye smile. "I didn't want anyone to feel they were pressured into taking the exams. But you are here, so, good luck!"

With that, he disappeared into a puff of smoke.

"He's really not the best for pep talk, is he?" Naruto inquired.

"Hn." Was all the Uchiha replied with, while Sakura merely giggled, but agreed none the less.

Nothing left to say, the trio entered the actual exam room.

* * *

**Jonin Sensei Room**

With a small cloud, Kakashi appeared in the room just adjacent to the exam room, separated by a large glass window that was henged to appear like a solid wall from the other side. Allowing all of the Jonin sensei's to monitor their students performance, as well as allowing them to keep an eye out for other things as well.

Looking out the glass window, his eyes immediately locked onto the massive sword on Xion's back. A wave of coldness washing over him as he recognized the five girls who were gathered in the far corner of the room.

'_What are they doing here?'_ He asked himself. _'And that was Zabuza's sword. Why does she have it?'_

The only good thing the masked jonin could take away was that neither of the girls seemed to notice Naruto, even when he went on his usual proclamation of passing this exam, just to show everyone he will become Hokage some day. Still, he felt uneasy that five girls who once had a close friendship with the boy was in such close proximity, though he knew there was nothing he could do about it. Kakashi could only imagine the fit the Hokage was having right now. Still, as long as the seals were active, Naruto shouldn't have any memory of his time in his home village.

"It's been awhile, Kakashi-san."

Breaking out of his musing, he lazily turned to the owner of the voice, seeing a fairly tall man with red hair approaching him. A soft smile on his face.

"Nagato-san." Kakashi greeted.

"So you finally decided to become a sensei for a team?" The red haired man inquired.

"There was an exceptional list of students this year." The silver haired man lied effortlessly. Since the only reason he took on the position of being the sensei of Team 7 was to keep an eye on Naruto and train the last surviving Uchiha to be able to control the Jinchuriki in the future.

"Every student is exceptional once you learn how to motivate them." Nagato replied with a smile. Though he could see right through the masked jonin's lies. It was obvious what Kakashi was really doing as the teams sensei. Especially considering the reports they had received from Tazuna and his family in Wave about the interactions between the masked jonin and his students.

"That sword on Xion-san's back…." Kakashi began, curious as to how the girl acquired the sentient blade.

"Ah yes, during a mission, the girls passed through Wave country." The red haired Uzumaki man responded. "As I recall, Xion-san suddenly broke off from the group and went directly towards two graves. As I understand it, the sword chose her to be it's new wielder."

"I see, it must be a great honor for her." Kakashi replied with an eye smile, though on the inside he was seething. Having lost the chance to claim such a blade. _'Damn it, I knew I should have requested some time off to claim the blade.'_

Turning their attention back to the class room, both jonin's watched as the number of teams were slowly dwindled down as more and more were caught cheating to answer the questions written on the test. All of which were way above what any normal genin could hope to answer on their own.

* * *

**One Hour Later**

An hour had passed before the written test was finally over, with the remaining teams that had stuck around for the final tenth question passing the first phase of the exam. Ibuki had given his speech about how not everything was as it seemed, and there would be times in their shinobi careers when they would have to face the dilemma of putting themselves in danger to complete the mission and save their comrades, or retreating to prevent injury to themselves.

"Welcome to the Training Ground 44, otherwise known as the Forest of Death." Anko proudly exclaimed to the gathered genin. A malicious smirk on her face.

"The rules here are simple." The snake mistress continued. "You have five days to reach the tower in the center of the training ground. Killing is allowed, which is why all of you will have to sign these waivers that are full of all that legal shit that Konoha is not responsible for your death."

"What if we don't sign?" A nameless genin asked.

"Then you get disqualified and you and your team can run back home to mommy." The purple haired woman bluntly replied.

"Pfft, I'm not afraid." Came Naruto's reply, only to be met with a kunai grazing his cheek, drawing a thing line of blood.

Next thing the blonde knew, Anko was draped over his shoulder, giving his blood a lick before chuckling.

"You know, it's ones like you that die first." She stated loud enough for all to hear, before lowering her voice so only Naruto could here. "Be careful in there."

Letting the blonde genin go, Anko took her spot in the front of the group of genin once more to finish her instructions. Explaining that each team will be given either a Heaven or Earth scroll, and that in order to pass this phase of the exam, each team would have to have one of each. With the exception of the Berugakure team, since they had more members, would require two of each.

Once everything was explained, and the teams got into position at their designated starting gates, Anko issued the signal for the second phase of the Chuunin Exams to start, prompting all the teams to rush into the forest.

Almost immediately, a scream echoed from the trees, signifying the first death.

"Who the hell dies that fast?" Anko asked herself in disbelief.

* * *

**Additional Authors Notes:** And the Chuunin Exams are officially under way.

I decided to opt out of explaining what was going on within the exam room, instead opting to take a view from the Jonin sensei's point of view. Which also allowed Nagato and Kakashi to talk with one another. Also, figured it would make more sense if there was a one way glass separating the two rooms, to make it easier for the sensei's to monitor their students.

Now, I will say that just because Nagato is being friendly to Kakashi, doesn't mean he likes him in any way. He has a job to do for now, and he is going to do it to prevent any unneeded suspicion on him. Rest assured, when the invasion hits, Nagato will have a few choice words for the masked pervert. Namely, Shinra Tensai.

Next chapter will cover what goes on in the forest, and the attempt on Sakura's life. Too bad for Danzo's ROOT, Naruto is not as weak as they were lead to believe. But will have a bit of a lasting effect on the members of Team 7.

Anyways, I hope everyone enjoyed this chapter, and as always, feel free to leave your thoughts in the reviews or hit me up with a private message.


	8. Chapter 8

**Authors Notes:** Alright, the Chuunin Exams are officially underway with the first test already finished, which I skipped and instead focused on Nagato's conversation with Kakashi, now the participants must survive the Forest of Death and claim their required scrolls to pass.

Not to mention, Anko got to meet the girls and was accepted by them. Something that meant a lot of our Snake Mistress due to her past experiences with people. The two pariahs also informed the girls from Berugakure about their own plan to escape the village. This had also lead to the girls warning the two about Orochimaru's plans for the invasion. Fortunately Naruto was able to calm the snake mistress before she could set her mind to do something stupid that could jeopardize their plan to escape.

We also got to meet Tenten last chapter as well, as well as a look into one of Naruto's past pranks, much to the weapon's mistress's amusement. For those wondering, no, she is not going to be in the harem, but she will be a friend later on.

Now then, on to the Forest of Death!

* * *

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* * *

**Review Corner**

_**JintoLin –**_ Sorry for it feeling too short, but I do try to make each chapter a minimum of 5,000 words.

Like I said with the Blood Clone, I wanted to have it set up that he couldn't just pull it out of no where and that it would need time to set up to perform properly. As for Rory, I kind of touched on her nickname back in the first chapter when I was introducing the girls. And yes, I wanted to give Hiruzen a heart attack when he read the sign in sheet.

As for the one who died, sadly not killed by Gaara. Just some poor team that ran right into a massive spider nest.

_**Blaze1992 – **_I will say this, Tsunade is unaware about Naruto. This will get touched on in about a chapter or two when she is summoned to Berugakure at Kushina's request. Though Kushina will question if the Slug Princess was in on it.

_**PraetorXyn –**_ Mabui is top pick for sure. Fortunately, or unfortunately depending how you look at it, I have already selected the dark skin representation for the harem.

_**YeagerMeister31 –**_ Yeah, the Tenten bit was a little last minute when I was writing the chapter, but I also wanted to mix things up and not have every exact detail follow what happens in canon. As for the Root team, yeah, they are going to get destroyed.

_**Thor94 –**_ Konoha as a whole won't really pay, as they were mislead by the Hokage. The ones that will pay are the ones who had full knowledge of who Naruto was, and still went along with it willingly. I already have punishments planned for the three main ones.

_**Naes151 –**_ Yahiko and Konan are alive and are living in Berugakure.

I will probably touch on it lightly in a future chapter, but the short version is that Ame was still liberated from Hanzo's tyranny with the help of Berugakure, leading to an alliance between the two villages.

The Akatsuki will still be present, just without Pein and Konan and a few other members. Though they are not the focus of this story.

_**FenreldStormblade – **_Actually, I have plans on how both Esdeath and Pyrrha will be introduced into the story. Esdeath's part is going to be a bit comical.

As for the team size, this was done on purpose. Berugakure works outside the usual structure of the Hidden Villages, with each team being more of their own squad. This is part of the reason Shinobi from Berugakure are so expensive to hire, but they also have a nearly flawless success rate.

* * *

**Harem**

Alright, as it was pointed out to me, there is a lack of representation of dark skinned girls for the harem. So with that in mind, I have added TWO more girls to represent our dark skinned beauties. And those two are….Mabui (from Naruto) and Yoruichi Shihoin (from Bleach).

Naturally, both girls are going to have their ages knocked down a little, well, in Yoruichi's case, a lot. Though they will retain their quirks and characteristics. So, here is the final list!

Anko, Aqua, Esdeath, Kairi, Koyuki, Mabui, Morgiana, Pyrrha, Rory, Sakura, Xion, and Yoruichi.

* * *

**Remember Me**

Chapter 8

**Forest of Death**

Team 7 had wasted no time when the gates had opened, immediately dashing into the forest, trying to put as much distance between themselves and the other teams as possible that had also started at their gate. Which was much easier said then done, as a handful of the starting teams had aimed to get their scrolls early and actively hunted the other participants right out the gate. Fortunately Naruto had been able to confuse their pursuers with multiple shadow clones, hinged as his team mates, giving his team time to regroup and plan for their trek through the forest.

Now the members of Team 7 stood in a small clearing, various traps set up around them to warn them if any other team were to stumble upon their location.

"So what's the plan?" Sakura inquired, looking between her two team mates.

"It would be best if we got the scroll we needed as soon as possible and head to the tower." Naruto stated. He felt uneasy being in the forest. He couldn't put his finger on it, but something felt off. As if they were being watched, and not by the various creatures that called the Forest of Death home.

"For once, I agree with the dobe." Sasuke smirked.

Sending a soft glare towards the Uchiha boy, Naruto was a little taken aback by the fact that Sasuke had actually agreed with him. If the young teens actions in the academy were any indication, he figured Sasuke would have wanted to stay in the forest for a few days to test himself against the other teams. Glancing over at his pink haired friend, Naruto could see she was a bit surprised as well.

"Then which one of us should carry the scroll?" Naruto inquired, producing the Heaven scroll from his pocket. He then received his second shock of the day.

"You keep it Naruto." The Uchiha instructed as he turned away from the two and stared out into the forest. "Your ability with Shadow Clones can help keep it away from enemy teams, do not lose it dobe."

Nodding silently, Naruto moved to put the scroll back in his pocket, though seeing as Sasuke wasn't looking at him, channeled chakra into one of the storage seals on the inside of his jumpsuit. While at the same time, producing a similar looking scroll and placing it in his pocket. If they were lucky, they wouldn't lose their 'scroll', if not; well, the one to take the scroll was going to be in for a bad surprise.

"So, how are we going to get the Earth scroll we need?" The pink haired kunoichi questioned.

"Easy." Sasuke grinned as he looked back at the other two members of his team. "We go directly to the tower and ambush one of the teams that already have theirs."

Turning back around, the last Uchiha started to make his way in the direction of the tower that was located in the center of the forest, not looking to see if the rest of his team was following him or not. As both Sakura and Naruto were rooted firmly in their spots as they tried to process the recent events. Though both had silently agreed that it was a good plan to ambush a team at the tower that already had their scrolls. Though Naruto did muse it would be awkward if the first team they encountered was of his fiances.

"So, does Sasuke seem off to you?" Naruto inquired in a low voice as the two of them followed after their raven haired team mate.

"Yeah, he actually agreed with you instead of arguing and then acknowledged your skill with the Shadow Clones." Sakura replied in a similar hushed tone.

"Well, if he is an impostor, I like this one better." The blonde chuckled, earning a small giggle from his friend. "Come on, best not to let him get too far ahead of us."

Nodding, Sakura took off after Naruto as they increased their speed to catch up with their team mate.

* * *

**Berugakure Team, Three Hours Later**

The five girls bounded through the tree branches with effortless ease towards their destination, the center tower. However, their pace was casual as they desired to stay within the forest, in case Naruto required their help. While they had faith in his own skills, he made it very clear that he would be hiding them to avoid suspicion.

Within the first hour of entering the forest, the girls had already acquired their required scrolls, as well as a few extras to help eliminate some of the competition. It had almost laughable at how woefully unprepared many of the teams were. Not just in terms of skill and ability as a shinobi, but at their lack of attention to their surroundings and over all, common sense. If anything, the girls did the teams a favor by eliminating them from the exams, as they clearly were not ready.

Though Morgiana had desperately prayed to Kami that they would cross paths with the mutts team that had the audacity to all but demand that she forsake her vows to her beloved. Even going as far as to threaten to force her to submit to him. The mere thought still infuriated her. Oh how she desperately wanted to smash him into the ground.

"Group up ahead." Xion stated, using her sensory abilities to identify the locations of various groups. "Three members."

"Alright, positions girls." Aqua instructed, prompting each of the girls to move into a defensive position to cover each others openings. Often times called the Kame no Keisei, or the Turtle Formation.

A handful of seconds later, the quintet entered a small clearing surrounding by dense trees to find a trip from Kumogakure. All three of which immediately got into a defensive stance as the five girls entered the clearing.

"Great." The dark skinned male with white hair sighed, moving the sucker that was in his mouth to the other side. "Of all the teams we had to encounter, it had to be the one from Berugakure."

The others watched on as the young man began to come up with outlandish and rediculous scenarios that would play out if they were to fight, causing the girls from Berugakure to form a sweat drop at his antics, while his team mates could only shake their head in annoyance before the red haired woman with dark skin and yellow eyes, pummeled him in the head to shut him up.

"I didn't expect to see you here, Mabui-san." Aqua greeted the remaining female of Kumogakure with a smile, as the blue haired young woman recognized the remaining woman.

A young, dark skinned woman with vibrant green eyes and straight, light gray hair pulled back into a bun, with two bangs that framed both sides of her smooth face, which only served to make her emerald eyes stand out even more. Her attire consisted a dark gray low cut outfit, which displayed her sizable cleavage, a tactic used to catch male opponents off guard, even some female one as well, with mesh armor underneath. A pair of black bicycle shorts cover her lower region, accompanied by shin high kunoichi boots. A kunai holster positioned on her left thigh, while her shurikan pouch was located on her right thigh. A pair of black hand guards, and a modified Kumogakure white flak jacket that covered her stomach only in a girdle like fashion finished her attire.

"We only arrived this morning." The now identified Mabui replied, relaxing her guard a little, much to her team mates surprise. "And you?"

"We arrived yesterday afternoon." The blue haired kunoichi stated, taking a similar relaxed posture, with the other four girls from Berugakure relaxing as well.

"Mabui, what are you doing?" The red haired kunoichi demanded while she readied her katana for attack, wondering why her team mate was acting towards the girls. "They're a potential enemy!"

"Exactly, they could be luring us into a false sense of security so we will drop our guard, and then they will capture us, take our scroll and sell us as slaves to a foreign country!" The white haired teenage boy added, taking an offensive posture as well.

"Karui! Omoi! Stand down, now!" Mabui demanded, glaring at her two team mates, prompting them to lower their weapons and look at her in confusion. "Sorry about them, Aqua-san."

"It's okay." Aqua waved it off. "It's actually refreshing to see a team ready for these exams. We've lost count of how many teams that were woefully unprepared for this. Speaking of which, what scroll do you have?"

At this, both Omoi and Karui tensed at the question. Their hands itching to grab their weapons once more.

"We have the Heaven scroll." The gray haired young woman replied without a worry.

Nodding, Aqua turned to Kairi whom had already begun digging through her pouch before producing an Earth scroll and handing it to the blue haired kunoichi, whom in return handed it to Mabui. Much to the shock of the other two Kumo genin.

"We have a few extra." Kairi smiled.

"As stated, we've lost count of how many teams were not prepared for this." Rory added with a giggle.

"Has…has there been any word yet?" Mabui inquired the girls in a soft tone, causing Omoi to scowl slightly at the question. Something that did not go unnoticed.

"Yes." Aqua answered with a smile, causing Mabui to look up in surprise. "We found him, now we just need to bring him home."

"He's here, isn't he?" The gray haired woman narrowed her eyes as she began to piece together the pieces.

"What are you talking about, Mabui?" Karui asked with an expression of confusion. "What's this about and who is this guy you are talking about?"

"Naruto-kun." Kairi whispered.

"Naruto, Naruto….wait, isn't that the name of the brat that the Raikage forced you into that engagement thing with?" The red head stated rather untactful, earning a few scowls from the Berugakure girls.

"I wasn't forced into the engagement." Mabui sighed. "It is open ended that I am allowed to walk away without any threat to the alliance of our villages. However, I feel it is only fair that I at least meet him and get a chance to know him before I make any choices."

"Which is very admirable, Mabui-san." Xion commented.

Meanwhile, Omoi scowled at the implications as he walked away from the group of girls and posted himself against a tree just on the outskirts of the clearing. Clearly not wanting to hear what the girls were talking about.

"What's with him?" Morgiana inquired as she noticed the white haired teenager walk away.

"He has a crush on me, and is jealous that I have rejected him every time he has asked me out on a date." The gray haired young woman replied with a slight tone of frustration. "Anyways, did you meet him? What's he like?"

"Yes, we did get to meet him." Aqua replied with a slight sigh, a far away look in her eyes. "After seven long years, it felt great to be held by him again."

"Wait, what happened?" Karui blinked, as she was not aware of the entire situation revolving around this Naruto go. The only thing she had been informed of was the arranged engagement between the boy and her friend and team mate.

"Seven years ago I was suppose to meet my fiance for the arranged marriage. It was suppose to be a surprise for him, as his mother had arranged for our meeting to be on his birthday." Mabui recounted with a slight frown. "However, before we could meet, he was kidnapped from his own village."

"What!? Why!?" Karui exclaimed.

At this, all of the girls exchanged a look before Aqua let out a sigh.

"Because Naruto-kun is a Jinchuriki." The bluenette beauty stated bluntly, earning a gasp of realization from the red haired Kumo girl.

"And you think Konoha took him?"

"Not think, we know." Morgiana stated, clenching her fist in anger.

"He's being monitored, no doubt by ANBU." Aqua continued to explain the situation surrounding the blonde haired boy. "It was by pure luck that I managed to run into him last night, and I am sure if we didn't play that communication game when we were younger, we wouldn't have been able to talk at all."

"Communication game?" Mabui tilted her head in confusion.

"Yes." Aqua giggled. "When we were younger, we created a form of rhythmic communication to give each other answers to a test or just talk during class without the teacher suspecting anything."

"But why didn't he try to run away or get a message out?" Karui asked, crossing her arms over her chest as she tried to wrap her head around what she was hearing.

"Because he had a memory seal and a loyalty seal placed upon him, which only recently broke." Xion answered, earning a scowl from both of the Kumo girls. "So he wasn't even aware he had been kidnapped until about two weeks ago."

"So there's no chance to meet him right now?" The gray haired kunoichi inquired.

"Due to them knowing about our history with Naruto-kun, we can't afford to be openly friendly with him." Aqua lamented with a sigh. "But you are an unknown, so you may get a chance to talk with him without arising too much suspicion, just don't be too quick to judge. He has to put on an act until we can get him out of the village."

"I hope Kushina-sama nails the Hokage's balls to the wall for the shit he's pulled." Rory hissed in anger, earning a nod of agreement from the other Beru girls.

"Wait, are you talking about 'THE' Kushina? As in Kushina of the Crimson Blade?" The red haired Kumo girl asked, wide eyed. "Why the hell hasn't she already smashed down the gates and raze the village?"

"Because Kushina-sama has something far more devious planned." Xion gave a sadistic grin. "We don't know what it is, but willing to bet, it will cause far more lasting marks then property damage."

"Well, we better….."

Suddenly a wave of coldness washed over all of the Beru girls, prompting them all to look in the same direction just to the east of them. Each of their eyes widening in terror as they realized what the feeling was.

'_Naruto-kun!'_ The all mentally screamed.

"We gotta go, now!" Aqua ordered, earning a concerned look from Mabui due to the girls sudden change of demeanor.

"What's going on?" The Kumo girl asked as she watched the girls begin to bound off.

"Naruto-kun is in trouble." Was the quick answer she was given before the group of girls from Berugakure disappeared into the trees at full speed.

'_Good, maybe if something happens to the brat, Mabui-chan will finally notice me.' _Omoi thought darkly as he kicked up off the tree he was leaning against to rejoin his two team mates.

* * *

**Team 7**

Sasuke was writing in pain on the ground, desperately grasping his neck where the strange man had bitten him, screaming out in agony before falling unconcious. Sakura on the other hand sported numerous minor injuries and was battered and bruised and panting heavily, leaning against a tree for support as she could only helplessly look on as the monster that had attacked them stalked slowly towards her blonde team mate and friend. She struggled to get up to help, but only succeeded in stumbling over her own feet and falling face first into the dirt.

"Who the fuck are you, bastard?" Naruto questioned aggressively as he took a defensive stance with a kunai in hand, readying himself for anything this creepy looking man would throw at him.

"Ku ku ku, isn't this a surprise." The lanky man chuckled with a sinister smile as he stalked closer to Naruto. "The missing heir of the Uzumaki royal family, my my my, what a scandal my former sensei has embroiled himself in."

Hearing this, both Sakura and Naruto's eyes widened, each for different reasons. For Sakura, it was in shock upon learning that Naruto was thought to be some missing heir to a royal family. Naruto though, it was in fear as he realized just who it was that stood before them. From there, the blonde jinchuriki was able to connect the dots as to what the Snake Sannin had done to the fallen Uchiha. Then there was the fact that Orochimaru knew who exactly who he was, which caused the blonde boy to cast a cautious glance at his pink haired team mate, knowing full well that she had heard what the snake bastard had said.

'_Guess she is going to have some questions if we survive this.'_ Naruto mused.

'_**We'll get through this kit.' **_Kurama reassured his host. _**'If nothing else, I can take control and we can brush it off as my chakra seeping out due to dire stress.'**_

'_Would prefer not to.' _The blonde mentally sighed as he imagined various scenarios that would cause. _'We're lucky they didn't tamper with the seal due to the events in Wave. Guarantee that if we do that here, the old bastard will tighten the seals.'_

'_**Fair point, kit.'**_ The fox agreed with a light scowl. Sure, he would be able to ward off the memory seal and loyalty seal if it was to be reapplied and other such seals, but if the bastards tampered with his actual seal, it could spell all sorts of trouble for the both of them.

"As for young Sasuke-kun, I merely gave him something to remember me by." Orochimaru chuckled, turning his attention fully back towards the blonde before him, causing Naruto to flinch under the mans cold glare. "You however, could become a problem to my plans."

At this, Naruto readied his kunai, trying to shake off his fear as much as he could. He knew he stood no chance against the Snake Sannin as he was. Especially due to how this cesspool of a village had sabotaged his growth.

"Especially with that beast in your gut." Orochimaru stated.

Without warning, the snake's tongue shot out of his mouth towards Naruto, completely catching the young blonde off guard as the tongue wrapped around his arms and chest, while the tip of the tongue moved to lift up the lower part of his jumpsuit, exposing the seal on his belly.

'_Shit/__**Shit!**__'_ Both Naruto and Kurama thought at the same time, immediately knowing what the snake bastard was planning.

Sure enough, Orochimaru's fingers on his right hand lit up with a blue fiery like aura at the tips, aiming straight for the seal. Out of desperation Naruto used both hands to block it from making contact, fighting against the snake like tongue that was wrapped around him. Just barely keeping the Sannin from making contact with his gut.

"Hey! Assbutt!" A girl shouted from the side of the two.

The next thing either of them knew, Orochimaru was sent smashing into a tree curtousy of the blunt end of Rory's massive halberd, as the black haired beauty landed next to Naruto. Casting a concerned look to her fiance, receiving a subtle nod from the blonde. Giving a subtle nod of her own, Rory then turned her attention to the tree she had sent the snake bastard flying in to, gripping her weapon. As she did so, Xion landed next to her with her massive sword at the ready.

As the two raven haired girls kept watch for the Snake Sannin, the rest of the girls entered the battle field, though it wasn't missed by Sakura that as each of the girls entered the small clearing, their eyes immediately locked onto Naruto, and she had a feeling it wasn't because of his orange jumpsuit.

"We meet again Naruto-san." The girl with blue haired commented as she approached the blonde as he slowly stood up, her blue eyes scanning all over his body for signs of any serious injuries. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, thank you Aqua-san." He replied, wanting to alleviate any concern his fiances had. Knowing that his 'Lover's Seal' had to have notified them that he was in danger.

"How does she know your name, Naruto?" Sakura inquired from her position sitting on the forest floor, prompting the blue haired girl to turn around and see the state the pink haired girl was in.

"Kairi, help her." Aqua instructed before turning her attention back to Sakura as the red haired Beru kunoichi set to work checking over the pinkette's injuries before utilizing her Iryo Ninjutsu to heal her wounds, much to the amazement of Sakura. "We met last night at Ichiruka's when I went to get some ramen for my team, even paid for my order. Such a gentleman."

With her task of healing Sakura done, the red head then moved over to Naruto, earning a small smile from him as he nodded for her to go ahead and heal him. Despite the fact that Kurama could easily take care of his wounds, he knew it would mean the world to his red haired fiance if she could help him. Across from them, Sakura watched as her blonde team mate and friend seemed perfectly relaxed around this strange girls. While she was well aware that Berugakure were allies with Konoha, they were still participating in an exam, making everyone, even teams from their own village a potential enemy.

"What happened to him?" Morgiana asked, gesturing towards the unconscious Sasuke.

"Son of a bitch pedophile bit his neck and put a hickey on him of some kind." Naruto replied, looking Aqua directly in the eye, making sure she understood exactly what he was implying.

Nodding, the blue haired beauty moved over to the fallen Uchiha, checking the boys neck to identify the mark. Seeing it, a scowl settled in upon her face. Sure enough, just as she suspected, Orochimaru had marked the Uchiha with his cursed mark. Quickly, she reached into her pouch and pulled out a brush and some fuinjutsu ink.

"What's she going to do to Sasuke?" Sakura asked, standing up.

"The one that attacked you wasn't a Genin, as I am sure you know by now." Xion commented as she approached the group. "His name is Orochimaru, the traitor Sannin over your village. As for what Aqua-chan is doing, she is applying a suppression seal to keep the Curse seal restrained until it can be removed safely."

"That's what the bastard did when he bit Sasuke, Sakura-chan." Naruto added as he joined the girls, squatting down next to Sakura before looking up at the other black haired beauty who was now approaching the group.

"Slimy bastard ran away." Rory grunted as she leaned against her weapon with a pout. "And Sasha here was so eager to taste his blood."

"So, you're the team from Berugakure?" Sakura inquired, attempting to strike up some small talk with the blue haired girl identified as Aqua continued to work.

"You are correct." Xion replied. "Name's Xion, Berugakure's 'Queen of Blades'."

"I am Morgiana, Berugakure's 'Feral Fist Master'." The pink haired Beru kunoichi introduced herself, prompting Sakura to take a double glance, since only her father shared her hair color, much to the mans embarrassment.

"Rory 'the Reaper'." The girl with long black haired stated with a smirk as she gauged the pinkette's reaction to her nickname. She was not disappointed as Sakura's expression was one mixed of shock, and a trace amount of fear.

"I'm Kairi." The red head that healed them earlier introduced herself. "My goal is to surpass Tsunade-sama as the Elemental Nations best Medical Kunoichi."

"And the snow cone over there is Aqua, Berugakure's next Fuinjutsu prodigy." The girl named Morgiana stated as she gestured towards the blue haired kunoichi that was finishing up with the seal on Sasuke.

"Pleased to meet you all." Sakura bowed her head. "My name is Sakura Haruno, as for my dreams, well, they have shifted recently."

The four girls from Berugakure each smirked and shared a knowing look between one another before they all turned their attention to their blonde lover, whom only shrugged his shoulders with an expression of confusion written on his face.

"He should be fine, but he will be out of action for up to twelve hours." Aqua informed the two conscious members of Team 7.

"Thank you Aqua-san." Naruto said as he stood up once more to meet the blue haired kunoichi.

"It is no problem, we are all friends after all." She smiled.

"Um, what scroll do you need?" Kairi inquired.

"We have the Heaven scroll, so we need an Earth." The blonde jinchuriki answered.

Upon hearing the answer, Kairi quickly rummaged through her pouch and produced an Earth scroll, handing it to Naruto, much to the shock of Sakura to see the girl just hand over one of the scrolls as if it was nothing.

"Thank you, Kairi-san." Naruto smiled, causing the poor red head to blush. Prompting her to clench her fists tightly to restrain herself from tackling him in a hug and claiming his lips.

"We can stick around, if you would like Naruto-san." Aqua offered.

"We should be good now, thank you." The blonde replied with a smile. "We're going to rest and set off first thing in the morning for the tower."

'_Besides, Kairi-chan is already struggling to keep her emotions reigned in, as am I.'_ The blonde mentally sighed. After the previous night, he desperately wanted to take each of his girls into his arms once more.

"Very well, Naruto-san." The blue haired kunoichi replied, a little disheartened at his refusal, but she understood his reasoning. She could already see the frustration washing over Kairi's face, and no doubt the other girls were feeling the same way. "We shall see you at the tower then."

With one final nod, the Berugakure kunoichi departed towards the massive tower visible from their location, leaving Sakura and Naruto alone with an unconcious Sasuke.

Silence fell over the two conscious team members as Sakura stayed in her sitting position near the tree, trying to wrap her head around what had just transpired in the span of twenty minutes. First they were attacked by Orochimaru, Konoha's most well known traitor for the sole purpose of placing some sort of mark on Sasuke for reasons she didn't quite understand yet, though she knew no good could come from it. Then there was the fact that the Snake Sannin had called Naruto the missing Heir to the Uzumaki Royal family, and even implied that the Hokage was involved some how.

Lastly, there was the Berugakure team. The pinkette couldn't put her finger on it, but it felt as if Naruto had a connection with those girls, far deeper then what he had let on. The sense of familiarity that seemed to emanate from each of them when they acknowledged each other. Especially the red haired one, Kairi. Sakura noted how the aspiring medic blushed when she was close to Naruto while she was healing him. Not to mention, she could see the girls muscles tensing, as if trying to restrain herself from doing something more physical with the blonde boy. Causing a sense of jealousy to rise up within the pinkette.

Sakura didn't know the exact reason why, but she was positive that the five girls had come to help Naruto, and that her and Sasuke had only benefited due to being on the same team as the blonde.

'_**I say when we get to the tower, we should corner him about it.'**_ Inner commented.

'_Why not now?'_ Sakura mentally questioned. _'I mean, Sasuke is unconcious and we're alone.'_

'_**Because we're in the middle of the Forest of Death.'**_ Her inner self pointed out. _**'We may be alone, but we are not safe.'**_

'_Good point.'_ The pinkette conceded, casting another glance at Naruto who was beginning to clear an area near the massive roots of one of the trees.

Having made her choice to corner the blonde in the tower, Sakura got up from her spot and set out to help Naruto set up the camp. While she furnished a make shelf shelter of sticks, leaves and mud, the blonde jinchuriki and set off to make various traps around the camp site as well as secure some food and water from the bountiful resources the forest offered, before heading back to camp.

'_**We're being watched kit.'**_ Kurama growled, sensing three figures lingering just on the outskirts of the trap line he had set up.

'_I know, they've finally managed to take out all of my clone teams that were sent out as decoys Pretty sure our scrap with the pedophile attracted them to our location.'_ Naruto replied with a small sigh.

'_**Took them long enough, even if your clones weren't fighting back.'**_ The fox commented. _**'So what's your plan, kit?'**_

'_I've got a surprise in store for them, __but I am going to need your help__.'_ The blonde chuckled darkly.

* * *

**Later That Night**

Screams echoed through the trees as various genin teams fell to the nightly horrors the properly named Forest of Death concealed. For his part, Naruto did not envy those who were unprepared for this place. Having sought refuge in this forest numerous times over the past seven years away from the angry mobs that would gather each year on his birthday, he knew full well the horrors this forest held. Which was part of the reason he had insisted he would take the night watch to watch over his team and allow them to sleep through the night. As much as she had grown over the past few weeks, he knew Sakura wasn't ready for this place at night time.

As he sat there, he could feel the three chakra signatures maneuvering through the traps he had set up. Smirking to himself, he waited for them to get closer to the camp before he stood up and face the three unwanted visitors. This was the other reason Naruto had insisted he take watch.

"You're not genin." He blatantly stated, eyeing the three individuals. "What are you doing here?"

"Kyuubi Jinchuriki." One of them stated stiffly, prompting Naruto to frown slightly.

'Emotionless, skills higher then that of your typical Genin and full knowledge of my status.' Naruto surmised. 'This has the old bastards scent all over it.'

"You two carry out the mission, make sure she doesn't survive." The one in front of Naruto ordered, causing him to scowl further. "But leave Uchiha-sama unspoiled."

At this, Naruto couldn't help but let out a low laugh, catching the three Root members attention. Looking up, he decided to let them in on his own personal joke.

"Fortunately, my team isn't here." He said.

As soon as he spoke, the campsite began to dissolve into nothing, revealing that it had been a genjutsu all along, much to the horror of the three nameless Root members, since their mission was now in jeopardy.

"Let me guess, you were ordered by that old bastard to kill Sakura-chan in order to break my mind and force me to use the Kyuubi's power." Naruto gave a sadistic knowing grin. "How we just skip to the part where I just use the foxes power instead, shall we?"

Upon saying that, Naruto's eyes flashed red, as red and yellow chakra began to engulf his body. A single chakra tail swaying in a threatening manner behind him. A few seconds later, screams erupted through the trees, shattering the still of the night.

* * *

**A****dditional Authors Notes:** And done!

So this chapter was fun. Sakura got to meet the girls, and while she wasn't able to show it, she is a little jealous of how familiar they seem to act around Naruto. Not to mention, PediMaru blurted out Naruto's secret, which gives our little pinkette a bit more to ponder about her blonde team mate, friend, and crush. Now, as for Naruto identifying Orochimaru simply based off the snake mentioning his old sensei, I figured it would be common knowledge that Hiruzen trained the tree Sannin as it would be on of the old mans shinning achievements before Orochimaru betrayed the village.

Also expanded the Berugakure girls a bit more, with their nicknames and dreams for the future. I figured Kairi would be the best pick to be the medic of the team, with her caring personality, while Aqua would be the one that would be the Fuinjutsu specialist with her focused mind. As for the others, they are clearly the front line support of the team. Though I will say that all of the girls are proficient in Fuinjutsu, just Aqua is more adapt at it.

As for the bit with Sasuke, I debated on whether I would have Naruto put the suppression seal on the curse mark or not, before deciding to have Aqua do it. Which hers will be a lot more efficient then what Kakashi would have done, so there is less of a threat of him being influenced by the mark.

And lastly, Mabui was introduced into the story, with a little bit of background about her engagement with Naruto. As you notice, she doesn't use the -chan suffix with the girls or the -kun suffix with Naruto. This is on purpose as she doesn't have the same bonds as the others do, at least not yet. As stated, Naruto was kidnapped before they were to officially meet, so not even Naruto is aware of her yet.

We can also see Omoi is a bit jealous of Naruto, which is going to be fun in the next chapter during the preliminary fights. So you can guess who Naruto is going to end up fighting.

Anyways, I hope everyone enjoyed this chapter. As always, leave your thoughts in the reviews, or hit me up with a private message!


	9. Chapter 9

**Authors Notes:** And here we go again!

So, last chapter we got to meet Mabui, and learn a bit about her affiliation with Naruto and his girls. It should also be noticed that instead of using the -chan suffix with the girls, and the -kun suffix with Naruto, she uses the -san suffix instead.

This is because while she is friendly to the girls, and has hung out with them occasionally, she doesn't have the same bond with them. As with Naruto, she hasn't officially met him yet, since he was kidnapped before their engagement was to be announced. So should be interesting to see how Naruto will react upon learning he has yet another fiance.

On that note, Sakura is also piecing together more of the puzzle revolving around her blonde team mate. With Orochimaru announcing his heritage and then her noticing how the Berugakure's team acted around Naruto when they conveniently came to their aid. Now, our little pinkette has some questions, though how much does Naruto trust her?

* * *

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* * *

**Review Corner**

_**Naes151 –**_ I probably should have described that better. When referring to the fight with Orochimaru, Kurama was implying for an explosive, berserker release of his energy, which is why he referenced the bridge in Wave Country.

Against the Root team however, it was refined and controlled. Showing that due to Kurama and Naruto having such a strong bond with one another, Naruto has complete control over his chakra. Even though he is a little out of practice.

As for Karui, rest assured she will be a friend to our favorite blonde.

_**EndertheDark –**_ What I mean to say, is that Kushina will be focusing on the main three that were involved with the kidnapping of her son, that being Hiruzen, Jiraiya, and Kakashi. The next Hokage (Tsunade) will be meting out punishments for the others that were involved.

However, most of the populace of Konoha were unaware of just who Naruto was. They only knew he held the Kyuubi, the one responsible for the death of many of their loved ones. The only ones that new who Naruto was is mostly just the Elder Council.

_**JintoLin –**_ Yeah, I got plans for Sasuke that will be revealed in the coming chapters.

As for Mabui, she was aware Naruto go kidnapped, and yes, her and Aqua as well as the rest of the girls have met a handful of times. Also correct, Aqua is the team diplomat, as she is usually the more level headed one of the girls.

As for the girls introductions, kind of my thought process. Was trying to decide on roles and reputations that would fit each girl. As for Aqua 'holding back the darkness', while I get the reference, it was not intended at the time. Since I am still playing the first Kingdom Hearts game.

_**YeagerMeister31 –**_ Yeah, it is going to be an interesting conversation between Sakura and Naruto, especially after Mabui approaches him during the preliminaries. And yes, Yoruichi will have her usual characteristics and quirks, it's part of what makes her, her.

_**Edeath756 –**_ No, Tsunade will not be in this harem. The harem list is complete as listed below. Our favorite booze drinking Hokage will remain his Godmother.

_**FenreldStormblade –**_ Yeah, not bad considering Mabui was literally a last minute addition to the list. Having the Chunin Exam's just made it easier to introduce her and integrate her into the harem early on.

As for Hiruzen, yeah, he is going to be shitting a quarries worth of bricks when Kushina comes to the village. It's going to be great.

_**Dovhah117 – **_Yes, I am looking forward to doing that part, when Hiruzen sees his plan falling apart at the seams. As for Sasuke, I will be touching on that here soon. Either in this chapter or the next one.

* * *

**Harem**

Anko, Aqua, Esdeath, Kairi, Koyuki, Mabui, Morgiana, Pyrrha, Rory, Sakura, Xion, and Yoruichi

* * *

**Remember Me**

Chapter 9

Hiruzen mentally scowled as he scanned his eyes over the genin that had succeeded in surviving the Forest of Death. Among those that had succeeded was a certain pink haired member of Team 7, much to the elder man's displeasure, as the team had arrived in the afternoon of the second day. Meaning that the Root team that Danzo had sent in to eliminate the girl had failed, and were no doubt killed before they could carry out their objective. The only question was, who had eliminated the Root team?

His first suspicion was that the team could have been unfortunate enough to run into either the team from Berugakure or the Suna team. However, both teams had arrived well before the Root members last reported in. Meaning they were killed the first night. Then to make matters worse, he had gotten word that Orochimaru had infiltrated the village and had targeted Sasuke Uchiha.

At first, he had thought that this was a blessing in disguise, seeing as another opportunity to break the boy and finally turn young Naruto into the weapon he was meant to be. With that in mind, he had dispatched Anko and a few ANBU in hopes of using the woman's hatred for her former sensei to drive her to do something reckless. It had looked promising at first, as the snake mistress had exhibited her usual hatred towards her former sensei and had taken to hunting him down with the same zeal he had expected of her. However, for reason's unknown to the elder village leader, the Snake Sannin had retreated for the time being, leaving the aging Hokage with yet another failed means to break the boy.

This of course lead to another issue. One Sasuke Uchiha.

Reports had stated that Orochimaru had succeeded in giving the boy his Curse Mark. However, when Kakashi had checked in on the boy, the masked jonin had discovered that someone had already sealed the curse mark, using a rather intricate containment seal that was powered by the boys own chakra system. Well above his own skills in fuinjutsu, almost on par with Jiraiya. This of course prompted both Hiruzen and Kakashi to question both Sakura and Naruto separately, with the Hokage questioning the young blonde. Both of which answered honestly that the blue haired girl from Berugakure had come across them during their fight with Orochimaru and had managed to drive off the Snake Sannin with her team, before administering first aid and sealing the Curse Seal that had been placed on Sasuke.

Hearing this, Hiruzen had dismissed the two members of Team 7 and summoned the Beru Team. When asked why they would come to the aid of a potential rival team during the exams, Aqua had pointed out that despite it being an exam, both villages were still allies and the individual attacking Team 7 was not part of the exams, and it was their duty to aid their allies. Something the elder man had to concede to.

Fortunately, it appeared that despite two separate encounters with the girls from Berugakure, young Naruto had shown no signs of recognition of the girls, allowing Hiruzen to mentally breath a sigh of relief. Even better for the elder man was that none of the girls seemingly remembered the blonde boy. Though he did recall one of his ANBU reporting a small incident between one of the girls and Kiba, in which the feral boy was firmly informed that the girl he was flirting with was already engaged. So, perhaps all of the girls had moved on with their lives after no traces of the blonde boy had turned up.

Peering down over the contestants that had passed the second exam, allowing his aging eyes to scan over the small crowd. Pleased to see that the girls from Berugakure had isolated themselves to the far side of the group, chatting idly amongst one another, though he didn't miss Kiba stealing glances at the pink haired girl from the Beru team.

'_Tsume really needs to reign in her son.' _Hiruzen thought with a mental frown, deducting that the girl the feral boy was eyeing was the one he had attempted, and failed, to flirt with a few days prior. _'__The boy had already been informed that the girl was engaged to someone else. I just hope he doesn't cause an incident between the two villages.'_

The elder village leader really didn't want Berugakure to have any reason to stay within Konoha's walls any longer then necessary. Each minute they remained within the village increases the chances of them discovering Naruto, and Hiruzen didn't know how much is poor old heart could take before it would give out on him. Shaking the thoughts away, he approached the podium that stood above the arena that they had all gathered in.

"Congratulations to you all!" He called out, catching the attention of all the participants in the arena. "For passing the Second Exam!"

"Now, the third examination is about to commence, but before I go into the specifics of how it will be conducted, I would like to make one thing perfectly clear." The elder village leader continued. "It pertains to the underlying purpose of the Chunin Exams."

At this, many of the teams began to quietly murmur to themselves in confusion. With the exception of the Berugakure team, many who had participated in the exams had done so under the impression that if they succeeded, they were promoted to the rank of Chunin. Even Naruto himself was a little confused as to what the old bastard was getting at with this little speech.

"Why do you suppose an examination of this nature is being jointly conducted by all of the nations in our mutual alliance?" The Hokage inquired.

Again, many of the genin that had gathered in the arena looked around in confusion. All the while the girls from Berugakure, as well as Naruto narrowed their eyes just slightly. The latter wondering just where the old man was going with this.

"To promote friendship among the allied nations and raise the level and standards of our respective shinobi. However, be very clear about what those fine sounding words actually mean!" Hiruzen called out, as he continued his speech.

'_So __in other words__, look underneath the underneath.'_ Naruto mentally mused.

"This series of so-called examinations are, in fact…." He left a pause for dramatic effect as he saw each of the participants subconsciously leaning forward to hear what he had to say next. "…a war in miniature between all of our allied lands."

Gasps of shock echoed throughout the arena.

"What do you mean!?" One of the chunin hopefuls exclaimed, once the initial shock had warn off of them.

"If you were to study our recent history, it would swiftly become apparent that our alliance is in fact, a temporary and mutually beneficial agreement between a group of geographically contiguous lands…." The hokage continued to explain, taking a short puff from his pipe while doing so. "….whose previous existence was one of continual strife, constantly jockeying against one another both openly, and in secret for the power and control over resources that were perpetually depleted almost to exhaustion."

"Until a better way was devised. The Chuunin Exams" The elder man finished his small history lesson.

"That's the stupidest thing I ever heard!" An Otogakure genin exclaimed. "I thought the point of this exam was to weed out who is strong enough to be a Chunin!"

"Make no mistake. When this exam is done, it will have had the side effect of winnowing out any applicants unfit to ascend to the rank of Chunin." Hiruzen replied, leveling his eyes at the Oto genin that had spoken out so brashly. "But even more importantly, it serves as an arena wherein, for the honor of their respective homelands, young shinobi may fight to the death, if need be!"

"For the honor of their lands?" Ino herself out loud, trying to comprehend just exactly what the Hokage was telling them.

"This third examination will be conducted under the watchful eyes of a number of distinguished guests, including the rulers and nobility of the various lands you all aspire to serve." Hiruzen explained, taking another puff from his pipe. "And among their number will be fellow Kage's who rule over their respective villages. They will be watching you."

Which was something the elder man was not looking forward to, desperately praying to Kami that the entire team from Berugakure would be eliminated from moving forward. He really didn't want to meet with Kushina face to face. Though he knew it was pointless, as the girls were well trained. He only hoped his cover story for Naruto would appease the Uzumaki woman.

"If any one nations applicants demonstrate outstanding skill and superiority, the noblemen from every land will be quick to commission work from those trained in that superior nation." He continued, mentally grinning slightly since his own village had a strong batch of applicants, with the only direct competition being that of Beru and Suna. "Conversely, if a particular country's applicants are shown to be incompetent or feeble, commissions to that country will dwindle."

"So in other words, these exams provide a public arena for each country to show off and boast of the strength of it's shinobi, and by extension, the strength of the country itself." Shikamaru summarized lazily in easy to understand terms for everyone. "Troublesome."

"Correct." Hiruzen commented, nodding to the young Nara for his accurate assessment. "These exams provide a public arena for each country to show off and boast the strength of it's shinobi, and the strength of their country itself. In short, the better you perform, the better your village looks in the eyes of potential clients."

"As such, you risk not only your own futures and your dreams, but the dignity and prestige of your home village as well." The elder Hokage finished.

"Whatever." The red headed boy from Suna scoffed. "Could you wrap up the philosophical talk and get down to the life and death stuff?"

"Hmph." Hiruzen grunted at the red haired boys rudeness. "So you insist that I explain the third exam then, very well…."

However, the Hokage was interrupted as a sickly looking man appeared in front of the crowd of genin, via the use of the Shunshin technique in a kneeling position.

"Forgive my interruption Hokage-sama." The sickly man stated. "If you don't mind, I will handle the proceedings of the third exam."

"Very well Hayate." Hiruzen nodded, a bit thankful for the interruption. Now with someone else taking over the explanation of the third leg of the exams, he could focus on observing the chunin hopefuls. Namely, the blonde jinchuriki.

"Congratulations on making it to the third exams, I will be your proctor for this leg of the exams." The sickly man turned to face the group of genin. "My name is Hayate Gekko. Sadly, it appears as there are too many of you currently."

"To-too many of us?" Kiba questioned, confused. Earning a bark in confirmation from his companion.

"Under the traditional rules of the exam, we have to have a preliminary test to reduce the number of applicants who'll proceed to the final exam." Hayate explained, earning a series of murmurings between the chunin hopefuls. "As Hokage-sama mentioned, a number of honored guests will be observing you during the third exam; so we must make the exam intense, tight, and fast moving."

"So anyway…." The sickly proctor continued. "Anyone who doesn't feel up to the challenge, either physically or mentally, can walk away now. Just take one step forward. Because the preliminaries start now!"

"In case I forgot to mention, from here on in you will be fighting as individuals…" Hayate added on to his initial announcement. "….and not as members of a team. So you can make the decision right for you without worrying about it affecting the rest of your team."

Only one participant had taken the option to forfeit. The same silver haired boy with glasses from the first exam that had the information cards on the other participants. Seeing this, six individuals narrowed their eyes at the boys withdrawal, feeling as if something was off. However, unable to voice their opinion on the matter, Naruto and the girls from Berugakure kept their mouths shut for the time being.

"Very well, if no one else would like to back out, we shall continue with the preliminaries." Hayate announced with a slight cough. "Matches will be selected at random and posted on the scoreboard above."

As if on cue, the scoreboard above the arena lit up, and began to cycle through their names in a blur as the crowd of genin watched with bated breath. Some eager to have their turn in the arena, while others were silently praying it wouldn't land on them. After a few seconds, the names stopped.

_**Sasuke Uchiha vs Yoroi Akado**_

"The first match is about to begin." Hayate announced. "Will the contestants step forward, everyone else, please take your places in the stands above."

As the two combatants remained in the arena, the rest of the genin filed up the stairs to take their spots in the stands overlooking the arena, giving them all a good view of the field below. As they did so, Hiruzen watched intently as the girls from Berugakure seemed to approach the remaining members of Team 7, only to completely pass the blonde and the pinkette by without a second glance, allowing the elder man to breath a silent sigh of relief. Turning his attention to the two participants below.

Hayate watched as both Sasuke and Yoroi took their spots opposite of each other. Each adopting their own taijutsu stances as they prepared for their match. Seeing both of them were ready, the sickly proctor started the match before quickly jumping out of the way to avoid being caught in the middle. In a blur of motion, Yoroi shot out three shurikuns towards the Uchiha with blinding precision, only for the raven haired genin to deflect all three back towards his opponent with a single fluid motion. Seeing his initial attack fail, Yoroi quickly charged forward in a blur of speed to engage Sasuke in a taijutsu match.

* * *

**With Sakura and Naruto**

From up in the stands, both Naruto and Sakura watched on as their raven haired team mate exchanged blows with his opponent, before eventually catching him in an arm bar. However, the fight below was not what was on the pinkettes mind. While she cared for her team mates, she had something more pressing at the front of her mind. Subtly, she would glance between her blonde team mate, whom was focused on the match below, and to the girls from Berugakure. Though she could have sworn that the red haired girl, Kairi, would steal glances at Naruto.

Frowning slightly, she decided that now would be her only chance to actually talk with her blonde team mate, and current crush.

"Naruto-kun?" She spoke softly, gaining the blondes attention. "Can I talk to you for a moment?"

"Right now?" The blonde inquired, raising an eye brow at the pinkette's sudden meekness.

Remaining silent, Sakura lead her blonde team mate away from the railing and into one of the adjacent hallways, giving the two a sense of privacy away from prying ears.

"What did Orochimaru mean when he called you the missing heir of the royal Uzumaki family?" She bluntly asked, in a low tone. Gazing at the blonde to gauge his reaction.

"I don't know." He finally replied, feigning ignorance. "Maybe he confused me with someone else."

"Please Naruto-kun, don't lie to me." Sakura pleaded, looking the blonde teen in the eyes. "I know there is something going on that you're not telling me. And I know it has something to do with those girls from Berugakure."

As she continued to gaze into his cerulean pools, she could see a swirl of emotions raging behind them. The most prominent was fear, though she had no clue as to why Naruto would be afraid of until the realization dawned on her, remembering that the snake sannin had said something about the Hokage being involved in something of a scandal.

'_He's afraid we __will__ tell the Hokage.'_ She mentally commented.

'_**And if the Hokage is involved some how….'**_ Her inner self left the implication hanging.

'_It could put Naruto-kun in danger, as well as those close to him.'_

"While we were in the forest…." Sakura continued, shaking off her thoughts for the time being. "….it felt as if you had a connection with them. When they came into the clearing, each of the girls were drawn to you."

"So what's going on Naruto-kun?" She pressed, earning a sigh from the blonde as he hung his head.

"I-I don't know…." Only to be cut off by the pinkette as she cupped his face with her hands, forcing him to look at her, her eyes full of concern and fear.

"No lies Naruto-kun." She whispered, a single tear leaking out of her eye. "I promise not to tell anyone, but please, don't lie to me."

"I can't tell you." He finally answered after a handful of seconds of silence, hanging his head once more as he did not want to see her in pain. "At least, not right now."

"Is it about the Hokage and the girls from Berugakure?" Sakura inquired.

"There….is a lot of truth in what Orochimaru said." The blonde replied in a low tone, causing Sakura's eyes to widen in a mixture of shock and fear.

Shock, because it meant that the snake sannin had been correct and that Naruto was the missing Uzumaki heir that Berugakure had been searching for. Of course she had heard about the kidnapping, since it had been the talk of the entire Elemental Nations for weeks after it had happened until the Hokage had allayed the populaces concerns about the boy. It was also around that time that Naruto had shown up in Konoha. Sakura mentally wanted to slap herself for not realizing it sooner, even if she had to admit that at the time, she had wanted nothing to do with the blonde boy.

To think, the entire time the Elemental Nations was looking for the boy, he was being abused and ostracized in her own village, and even worse, her own Hokage was behind it all. Which lead to why she had a sense of fear. She knew if the Hokage caught wind of what was being discussed between them, he would lock Naruto away somewhere. Then there was the fact the girls from Berugakure were here. They were here for Naruto, which could only mean one thing.

"You're going to leave, aren't you?" She asked quietly, wiping away a few tears from her cheeks before she smiled and looked up at him. "You don't have to tell me, just….be safe, Naruto-kun."

Then, she did something the blonde teen was not expecting. Cupping his cheeks, she leaned in and planted her lips onto his with her eyes closed. At first, Naruto didn't know how to react until he felt her tongue probing at his lips, prompting him to allow it entrance and intertwine with his own. On instinct, he held her firmly as their tongues wrestled for dominance over one another.

After a few seconds, the two broke apart. Allowing Sakura to rest her head on his chest. While she wouldn't really call them an official couple, she was content with this for now. Not to mention, that kiss alone had rendered her inner self completely speechless and had herself seeing stars.

"You two should know that Sasuke had won his match." A voice spoke, breaking the two out of their intimate moment, prompting both to look at the source of the voice. Standing in the hallway opening was none other then Kakashi, with his trademark orange book open in his hand.

Upon seeing the lazy masked jonin, Sakura felt her blood run cold. Fearing that he may have over heard her discussion with Naruto. Naruto however, seemed to have sensed this from her and gave her hand a reassuring squeeze, since he only felt Kakashi's chakra signature during the kiss.

"Thank you for telling us, Kakashi-sensei." Naruto smiled.

Giving a lazy nod, the silver haired man walked away from his two remaining students, a bit pleased that the two seemed to have finally formed that intimate bond that the Hokage was waiting for. Though, he was still curious as to how the Root team had failed to kill the girl while in the Forest of Death. Still, with the bond formed, he would have to report to the Hokage and see where the village leader would go from there.

"Don't worry Sakura-chan, he didn't hear anything." The blonde reaffirmed, earning a sigh of relief from the pinkette. "And I promise Sakura-chan, I will tell you everything when it's safe. Just not now, I promise."

"I-I understand, Naruto-kun." Sakura smiled sadly, knowing that he was going to leave the village to return home. "Just, be safe."

Naruto smiled lightly before bringing her in for one more kiss before the two of them exited the hall way, just in time to see two names appear on the board, signifying the next match was going to was not going to end well from one of the combatants.

_**Morgiana vs Kiba Inuzuka**_

"Uh oh." Naruto whispered, just loud enough that Sakura could hear him, prompting her to look at him in confusion.

"What's wrong?" She asked.

"This is going to end very badly for Kiba." The blonde stated.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, from what I know, Kiba tried to flirt with Morgina when they first arrived in the village and made some very sexist remarks to her." Naruto explained, though he didn't want to go into too much detail, since the pinkette had already picked up on the fact that he had a connection with the girls. He was unsure how she would react when she finds out that he is engaged to all of them, especially after what had just transpired between the two of them in the hallway.

"Oh." Was all Sakura commented with.

Attending the academy with the feral boy, the pinkette was vastly familiar with the boys 'Alpha' attitude and how every girl should submit to him. There had been a handful of times that Kiba had spouted the same nonsense to both her and Ino. Which of course lead to the feral boy getting beaten down by both girls because of his audacity to claim he was better then their 'Sasuke-kun'. This caused her to mentally cringe, as she recalled just how bad of a fan girl she really was for her raven haired team mate.

'_**You better tell her something, kit.'**_ Kurama voiced from within the blonde. _**'She's already picked up that you plan to leave, it won't take much before she pieces together the rest of the puzzle. But I have to say, she is a good candidate for one of your seats, now that she has broken herself of being a fangirl for the Uchiha brat.'**_

Of course, this caused Naruto to blush slightly, which did not go unnoticed by his pink haired companion.

"Something wrong, Naruto-kun?"

"N-no." He stammered. "Just the fur-ball being a pervert."

Sakura couldn't help but giggle lightly at this. Who would have thought the mighty Kyuubi would be a pervert. However, she realized something that she was sure her blonde crush had not. While she knew that the boy held the Kyuubi within him, she was unaware that the two of them could converse with one another.

"You mean you and…." She left it hanging as she peered at the boy.

'_**Kit, you forgot that she doesn't know about our bond.'**_ The fox commented, causing Naruto to mentally groan at his mistake.

"Umm, yeah." He replied, knowing that because he had already slipped up, he couldn't really hide it from her now. "It's part of the reason I can sense others around me."

Sakura seemed to accept this explanation, as she nodded her head.

"And….you were right about earlier, Sakura-chan." The blonde sighed, catching her attention once more. "I do have a connection with the Berugakure team."

At this, Sakura's eyes widened slightly.

"I-I can't give any more details now though, I'm sorry."

"I understand, Naruto-kun." She replied, knowing full well the blonde didn't want to risk himself or others needlessly. He had promised her that he would tell her everything later, and if one thing that hadn't changed in her blonde team mate, was the fact that he never went back on a promise.

Soon, a comfortable silence fell between the two as each of them turned their attention to the arena below.

* * *

**Arena**

Morgiana couldn't be happier with the current events. She had prayed, that she would get paired up against this arrogant asshole, and Kami had answered her prayers. Now, she would make this mutt pay for his disparaging remarks against her and her beloved.

"This is going to be great, eh Akamaru?" Kiba commented arrogantly, with the boys canine companion agreeing with his partner with a small yip. "After this, you will recognize me as your alpha and you will willingly submit to me."

"I see you still care little for any loyalty or commitment that is not towards yourself." The pink haired girl stated calmly. Now, to the random spectator, her tone would be normal for someone that is merely brushing off an insult. But for Naruto and the other girls from Berugakure, Morgiana's calm and collected tone only promised one thing, destruction.

"Pfft, like I would care about your loser fiance." The feral boy scoffed. "And after we're done here, you won't either. You'll be too busy screaming out my name."

A cold silence hung over the stadium. Hayate could only gulp as he quickly started the match and immediately cleared out of the way faster they had had previously. Just in time too, as Morgiana had disappeared from her spot in a flash, connecting her fist with the feral boys jaw, sending him skidding across the ground a good two or three meters.

"You bitch!" Kiba exclaimed as he jumped up, wiping the blood from his lip. Akamaru growling in a threatening manner as the pup ran towards his partner. "Stand back Akamaru, I'm going to put this bitch in her place, beneath me."

"_**Shikyaku no Jutsu!**_" The feral boy exclaimed, dropping down to all fours as his body begun to take on more feral like features. Namely his fingernails extending to appear more claw like, as well as his canines lengthening.

With blinding speed, the feral boy shot off from his crouched position, aiming to deliver a devastating blow to the pink haired young woman who had dared to question his Alpha status and refused to submit to him. Pulling his fist back, he aimed for her sternum, intending to knock the wind of out her and leave her vulnerable. However, the moment his fist was about to connect, she disappeared from his sight, causing him to freeze and look around as to where she could have gone to.

His answer came in the form of a sharp blow from the right side that sent him sprawling across the arena floor a second time, until he came to an abrupt stop curtsy of the thick wall that surrounded the arena. Once again, Akamaru came to his side, whimpering in concern at the condition his partner was in.

"You call yourself an 'Alpha', but you're all bark and no bite." Morgiana scoffed as she began to stalk towards her fallen opponent. "You're about as threatening as a domesticated house bitch begging for treats."

Many in the stands couldn't help but snicker at the Beru kunoichi's insult to the feral boy.

"Tell me, are you house broken?" She smirked. "Can you do tricks?"

"Fuck you bitch!" Kiba screamed as he struggled to stand up. Reaching into his pouch he pulled out two pills, giving one to Akamaru. "Let's go Akamaru and put this bitch in her place!"

"_**Jujin Bunshin!"**_ Kiba shouted out, causing a plume of smoke to erupt around their forms. Once cleared, two Kiba's could be seen, one on top of the other in an aggressive stance. Both could be seen sporting a feral grin, no doubt attempting to intimidate the Berugakure girl.

"Try this on for size!" One of them yelled out, though both mouths moved simultaneously. _**"Gatsuga!"**_

At this, both Kiba's spiraled towards the girl, aiming to deliver a series of blows from all angles. However, Morgiana counted with her own technique, as her leapt towards the two spinning cyclones that were barreling down on her and twisted her body in the opposite direction. A loud crack sounding as the two techniques collided, though it was obvious that the Berugakure kunoichi had over powered the Inuzuka's technique as both Akamaru and Kiba were tossed violently in opposite directions. The young pup having the misfortune of being slammed against the wall, rendering him unconcious, thus breaking the henge that was over him, whilst Kiba was sent sprawling across the arena floor for a third time in the past five minutes.

"I got a trick I want you to do, mutt." Morgiana grinned as the boy once more struggled to get to his feet. Blood running down his face, forcing one of his eyes to remain shut to prevent the crimson fluid from leaking into it.

"Sit boy!" She shouted as she leapt into the air and brought a powerful blow down on the back of the poor boys head, sending him face first into the ground, creating a six foot wide crater from the force of the impact.

To everyone watching, it was clear that Kiba was not getting up this time. Seeing this, Hayate slid down into the crater and checked the boys vitals, finding him still breathing. Letting out a sigh of relief, he signaled for the medics on stand by to come and treat the boy and his partner.

"Winner of this match, Morgiana of Berugakure!" The sickly proctor announced, earning a small round of applause from the spectators, though mainly from her team mates.

* * *

**With Naruto**

'_Good job Morgiana-hime.'_ Naruto mentally congratulated his pink haired fiance with a small smile.

"That looked brutal." Sakura commented, having seen the girl man handle the poor feral boy. If she was honest with herself, she felt as if the girl had been holding back the entire time.

"It did." The blonde jinchuriki agreed. "I always knew Kiba's mouth was going to get him into trouble one day. I only hope he learned from this experience."

"Who do you think will fight next?" The pinkette inquired.

However, before Naruto could answer her, the scoreboard sounded off once more, prompting the two to look up and read the names of the next two competitors.

_**Naruto Uzumaki vs Omoi**_

* * *

**Additional Authors Notes:** And cliffhanger!

Please don't kill me! Sorry, but I kind of wanted to leave this a cliff hanger, mostly so when I start the next chapter, I can jump right into the action. Also, we'll get to see how the girls from Berugakure will react, as well as how Mabui, since she is well aware that Omoi is jealous that she keeps rejecting him for Naruto.

That being said, I hope everyone enjoyed this chapter. I know the fight between Kiba and Morgiana was one sided, and that was on purpose. It's already been stated that the girls are already Jonin strength, due to their rigorous training to get Naruto back.

Also hope that everyone enjoyed the little fluff moment between Sakura and Naruto. I was debating on whether or not I should have him divulge everything just yet, but opted not to. Though I did decide to have Sakura figure it out a little, since I like to portray her as smart, especially once she breaks away from her fan girl attitude.

Anyways, be sure to leave your thoughts in the reviews, or hit me up with a private message!


	10. Chapter 10

**Authors Notes:** Alright, so I may have gotten a little distracted with the plot bunnies this past week. I had started the week working on this story, only for those pesky fur balls to gnaw at my mind, which gave birth to the two other stories I started. So now that they have been sated, back to this one!

Not only that, but my monitor died on me over the weekend, thus rendering my PC out of commission until I was able to replace it, so that was fun. Anyways, moving on!

In the last chapter, Hiruzen got to see that his plan to have Sakura killed had failed, much to his disappointment. To further increase his frustration, even Anko had avoided a run in with her former sensei, thus leaving the old bastard with two failed attempts to break Naruto emotionally.

But on a happy note, Sakura finally got her first kiss. Not to mention she is slowly piecing together the pieces of the puzzle that has been laid out before her, exposing horrible truths about her own village, and it's Hokage. And while she doesn't know the exact details, she does know that Naruto and the girls from Berugakure have a connection. Should be fun when she finds out.

Not to mention, last chapter we also got to see Kiba get smashed into the ground by a very upset Morgiana. We all knew his 'Alpha' ways was going to land him in trouble one day. Question is, did he learn his lesson?

* * *

**Discord**

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Hit me up with a private message for server information!

* * *

**Review Corner**

_**EndertheDark –**_ I know I already answered this in a private message, but others may have similar questions, so here we go.

**Q:** Kakashi knows that Naruto is both Kushina and Minato's son. So why'd Kakashi kidnap Naruto? What is his reward that made the risk worth it?

**A:** Short version, Kakashi is more loyal to Konoha then he is to his late Sensei and his wife.

**Q:** Same question as 1, but applied to Jiraiya.

**A:** Mostly the same as Kakashi. He was raised in Konoha and wants to see it on top of the Elemental Nations. Also in this story he will be obsessed with fame and the prophecy thing, and all of that.

**Q:** How did Kushina survive losing Kurama?

**A:** Easy answer, plot armor. Though, I am leaning towards Kurama purposely leaving a bit of chakra behind within her to ensure she survives when he felt himself being pulled out against his will. Keep in mind, in this story the Kyuubi has a good relationship with the Uzumaki's.

**Q:** When and why did Kushina leave for Berugakure?

**A:** During the sacking of Uzu, many of the Uzumaki's fled to Berugakure, which was allied with Uzu and Konoha. So with her husband dead, Kushina had no reason to stay within Konoha, so she went to where the rest of her clan was.

_**PraetorXyn –**_ You are going to be able to rebuild Uzu with the amount of bricks Hiruzen will be shitting when Kushina arrives in the village.

_**12Ookami12 –**_ There are a few that are not as they seem, which will be revealed in the coming chapters. Though you are correct, no redemption for the primary three involved with Naruto's kidnapping.

_**HyperA2019 –**_ I have something else in mind for Naruto to proclaim, something that will chill Hiruzen to the bone.

_**YeagerMeister31 –**_ Fortunately, I already have the fight planned out between Naruto and Omoi. Though poor Naruto, while he is use to being hated, he at least knows why the populace of Konoha hates him. Omoi though, poor Naruto has no idea why, lol.

* * *

**Harem**

Anko, Aqua, Esdeath, Kairi, Koyuki, Mabui, Morgiana, Pyrrha, Rory, Sakura, Xion, and Yoruichi

* * *

**Remember Me**

Chapter 10

Mabui looked on in horror as the names displayed across the screen for all to see. Beside her, Omoi gained a sadistic grin as he saw the names, imagining that Kami must be looking out for him. Grin still in place, the Kumo swordsman departed the stands, imagining the various ways he could hurt the blonde teen that had taken his girl from him. Perhaps even kill him, if he was lucky enough to land such a blow before the proctor would interfere.

"Omoi is going to kill him, you know that, right?" Karui pointed out, earning a groan from the silver haired beauty. Mabui didn't want to imagine what would happen if her team mate would be successful. Without a doubt, if Omoi were to land a killing blow, the girls from Berugakure would rip him apart before he would even get the chance to celebrate.

"Let's hope not." The silver haired kunoichi commented with a sigh, absolutely despising the situation she found herself in. She knew she should cheer for her team mate, but on the other hand, she didn't want Naruto to lose either. _'Why, why couldn't they have been paired up against other participants?'_

"So you're saying you want Omoi to lose?" The red head inquired in a half teasing tone. Though the red haired kunoichi didn't get all the drama going on between her fellow team mates and the Naruto boy. Mostly on her male team mates part. She understood where Mabui was coming from, she had agreed to an arrangement and she wanted to at least give it a chance. Omoi on the other hand, has seemed to become increasingly obsessed with the silver haired kunoichi. It was becoming rather concerning for the two kunoichi.

"It's not that." Mabui replied, not catching the joking tone her team mate was using. "I don't even want to imagine what the Berugakure girls will do to him if he actually succeeds in killing Naruto-san."

Karui couldn't help but shiver at the thought. It was very clear during their meeting with the Berugakure team that all five of the girls were extremely protective over the blonde teen. Especially now that they had found him after years of searching, only to find one of their closest allies were responsible for his disappearance.

"Well, all we can do is just watch and see." The red headed swords woman commented, earning a nod in agreement from her friend.

* * *

**Arena Floor**

Naruto stared across the arena at his opponent, a feeling of uneasiness washing over him. Warning him that this particular participants had ill intentions.

His opponent in question was a young Kumogakure shinobi with dark skin, and short spiky white hair. Dark eyes with his eyelashes curving upwards from the corners. The Kumo-nin's attire consisted of an overlong shirt with a hood, with red bandage hand guards and Kumogakure shin guards. Finishing off the young genin's outfit was his black Kumogakure headband, and dark gray flak jacket, and a single lollipop in his mouth.

"I really don't see why Mabui-chan is so fixated on you." The Kumo genin commented with a slight sneer as he glared at the blonde jinchuriki. "You don't look like anything special, only an idiotic dope that wears the brightest colors just to get attention."

Meanwhile, Naruto only frowned at the Kumo genin before him, a bit confused as to who this Mabui person was that is supposedly fixated on him.

'_Kurama, what the hell is he talking about?'_ The blonde mentally inquired.

'_**Not sure kit.'**_ Answered the fox, equally as confused as his container. _**'But he seems extremely upset at you for whatever reason, so better keep your guard up.'**_

"I am going to show Mabui-chan just why she should be focusing on me, instead of you." Omoi finished as he drew his blade and got into a fighting stance.

"Question." Naruto spoke. "Are you related to Kiba by chance? Because you kind of have that same mindset that women are property rather then people."

Despite himself, Hayate couldn't help but snicker at the blonde genin's retort, especially since the sword wielding genin seemed even more infuriated at the responds. Seeing as the two combatants were ready, the sickly swordsman started the match before jumping out of the way.

Omoi wasted no time in initiating the fight as he swiftly closed the gap between himself and the blonde, bring his blade up in a right, upwards horizontal slash, prompting Naruto to back peddle as the blonde just as the blade slashed through his jump suit, drawing some blood from the jinchuriki's chest. Naruto didn't have time to react as the Kumo swordsman quickly brought the blade around for another strike, forcing Naruto to tilt his head to avoid another severe injury, receiving another slash on his left cheek. Pushing chakra through his legs, Naruto bounded back to give a significant distance between himself and his attacker and give him time to formulate a plan.

'_**Kit, this guy is really trying to kill you.'**_ Kurama pointed out the obvious. Noting that each slash the silver haired genin made was aimed at lethal points on the body.

'_You think I don't know that!?'_ Naruto responded sarcastically. _'Seriously, who the hell is this Mabui girl that this guy is so hung up on.'_

'_**We'll figure that out later, we need to come up with a plan first that keeps you alive without blowing your cover.'**_ The kyuubi responded.

'_Right.'_ The blonde agreed as out of instinct he summoned forth a couple dozen of Shadow Clones to send at his opponent to keep him occupied and away from the real Naruto. _'__Got any ideas?'_

'_**Actually,'**_ Kurama began, watching as his containers clones rush the Kumo swordsman. The fox could see that while the young man was adept in his use of the sword, he did struggle when there was more then one opponent coming at him. _**'I do have an idea, **__**but first send some more shadow clones and watch**__**.'**_

'Okay.' Naruto frowned slightly, but still did as suggested and created a dozen more clones, ordering them to attack the Kumo genin once more, just as Omoi had cut down the last Shadow Clone. Though the blonde jinchuriki did find it funny when the swordsman started cursing when he saw more clones coming at him.

'_**Do you see it, kit?'**_ The fox inquired, coaxing his container to see what he did.

Remaining silent, Naruto focused on what the fox was implying. Within seconds, the blonde saw what the fox was talking about. While the white haired genin was good with a blade, he was no Jonin. He was a Genin, just like Naruo. As such, the Kumo swordsman was having issues keeping up with the amount of clones Naruto kept sending his way.

'_I see it.' _Naruto commented. _'He can't keep up with more then one opponent at a time. Now how to use this to my advantage?'_

'_**You mean besides you doing the same to him as you did to that Mizuki bastard, **__**and just pummeling him into the ground**__**?'**_ Kurama deadpanned.

'_That too.'_ The blonde chuckled. _'__But I need to shut him up for awhile before he spouts off something that could blow my cover and compromise our plan of escaping this shit hole.'_

'_**Agreed kit.' **_The fox nodded. _**'What about that Siphon Seal of yours?'**_

'_Siphon seal….__that could work.'_ Naruto mused to himself as he watched as more and more of his clones were able to tag hits on the white haired swordsman. _'Even though I designed it to hold on to my target to drain them of their __chakra__, if enough clones are making contact with him, it should work the same.'_

'_**Make it happen, kit.'**_

Mentally nodding in confirmation, Naruto set to work making even more clones. Though with these ones, he made sure to add more chakra into them before silently commanding them to use the seal chosen to siphon the energy from the Kumo genin. Omoi let out a loud curse as he saw even more Shadow Clones descend upon him as be recklessly began swinging his blade around, aiming to make quick and precise cuts to severely reduce the amount of clones surrounding him. Though with each clone he cut down, the plum of smoke that erupted afterwards only served to impair his vision, allowing others to get in quick jabs on to his body.

With each strike, Omoi began to feel the energy slowly leave his body as his breath became more and more ragged and labored. Still, he persevered. Continuing to cut through more and more of the clones as they continued to work to overwhelm him, which was working as with each clone he managed to cut down, more were able to slip through his defenses and score more blows against his body.

After nearly three minutes of keeping the clones at bay, Omoi finally succumbed to the blonde jinchuriki, as Naruto had switched places with one of his clones and caught the dark skinned swords man in a rear naked choke hold. Which only served to sap the energy from the Kumo genin even faster as the blondes clones proceeded to take advantage of the situation by scoring some more shots in before Omoi finally fell unconcious.

Seeing no movement in his opponent, Naruto cautiously released his hold, ready to swap himself with one of his clones if need be. However, it was not required as Hayate moved in to check on the fallen swordsman before signaling the end of the match and declaring Naruto the winner, much to the surprise of the spectators, as medics ran out onto the arena floor to attend to the defeated genin.

None more so then the village elders, who openly scowled from their viewing booth. They had hoped that by rigging the randomizer and pitting the boy against the Kumogakure swordsman, the jinchuriki would suffer a severe injury and remove him from the exams all together, partially under the Sandaime's orders, as Hiruzen had hoped to remove the boy from the exams all together in a clean fashion. Though once again, the old mans hopes had been crushed.

Panting heavily, Naruto dismissed the rest of his clones before departing the arena floor and returned to the stands. A sense of relief washing over him as not only had he had managed to qualify for the finals, but he had managed to keep his cover intact. All he had to do now was last until the finals, which was still a month away, though with the girls in the village, it would be much more bearable.

"Excuse me, Naruto-san." A feminine voice broke the blonde from his musing. Looking up the flight of stairs he was walking up, he spotted two dark skinned Kumogakure kunoichis. One silver haired, and one red headed.

'_Must be that guy's team mates.'_ Naruto observed._ 'Though I sense no ill intent from them, so guess they are not sore over me beating him.'_

"Yes?"

"I-I wanted to apologize for my team mates actions in the arena." The silver haired girl started, tentatively making her way down the flight of steps, as the red haired kunoichi stayed at the top. Stopping just as she stood before Naruto, getting to finally see her fiance up close. A small blush dusting her cheeks as she took in his face.

"You are Mabui, I presume." Naruto ventured to guess.

"I-yes." The silver haired kunoichi blushed slightly.

"I see, then perhaps you can explain why your team mate personally wanted to kill me?" The blonde inquired, in a soft yet stern tone. Implying that while he didn't blame her exactly, he still wasn't happy that Omoi had every intent to kill him on that arena floor.

"Omoi has been a bit….obsessed with me." Mabui sighed, casting her eyes to the floor, ashamed by the actions of her sole male team mate.

"Yeah, I gathered that much." Naruto couldn't help but chuckle lightly. He didn't want to come off that he was accusing her for his actions. "But he also mentioned that you were fixated with me, why?"

"About that…." The silver haired kunoichi blushed severely, before looking him in his blue eyes. "I, am one of your fiances."

"My….wait, what?" The blonde could only stare in surprise. "Not to sound rude, but I don't even know you."

"That is understandable." Mabui stated with a sigh. "Your mother had set it up as a surprise, but you disappeared before we could formally meet."

"My-my mother?" Naruto narrowed his eyes slightly. "Then that means you…."

"We know your secret, yes." Mabui interrupted before holding her hands up in a surrendering gesture. "However, I am on your side."

"You mean _**'we'**_ are on his side." The red haired kunoichi corrected from her position at the top of the stairs. "Karui, by the way. And no way in hell am I letting my sister in all but blood do this alone."

'_**I sense no malicious intent behind the**__**ir**__** words, kit.'**_ Kurama commented from within the blondes mind, earning a mental nod from his host.

"Pleasure to meet you." The blonde nodded to the now identified Karui.

"Anyways, we should probably not linger much longer." Mabui sighed. "No doubt if you don't show up by your team mate soon, others will become suspicious. But, I would really like to sit down and get to know you better."

"I can't promise anything until I know what the old bastard has planned for after these preliminary matches." Naruto admitted, scratching the back of his head.

"You think he is going to try something because your other fiances are here?" The silver haired kunoichi inquired.

"Not openly, no." Naruto mused. "Especially not after I have qualified for the finals. I have no doubt that he, or others under his orders, rigged the randomizer to have me face a weapons specialist, since I am suppose to be a brawler type, and it would have been a bad match up for me. Though I doubt the old bastard planned on your team mate trying to kill me."

"Speaking of which," Karui quirked an eye brow. "How did you beat him?"

Smirking some, Naruto allowed the seals to appear on his hands that he had used to sap the chakra from their team mate.

"What are those?" Mabui asked.

"Seals that I created." The blonde explained. "Each time I make physical contact with someone, it saps away some of their chakra, so when I have a small army of clones attacking, it speeds up the process. So your team mate is only suffering from moderate chakra exhaustion."

"Wow." Was all the two kunoichi could respond with. Clearly impressed with the blondes ingenuity, since it clearly hid his skills, but still gained him the win.

"Anyways, it was nice to meet you both, but I should get going before anyone comes to check on me."

"Right." Mabui agreed, though frowned slightly as she wanted to spend more time with him. Staring into his cerulean blue eyes, before she let a small come to her face. "Ah, fuck it."

Before Naruto could ask what she meant, Mabui had closed the distance between the two of them and brought him into a firm embrace, allowing her lips to collide with his. The first thing the jinchuriki noticed, aside from her impressive bust pressing against his chest, was how soft and warm her lips were. Deciding to take it up a notch, Naruto probed her lips with his tongue, asking for entrance, which she granted as she parted her lips slightly, allowing his tongue to invade her mouth and wrestle with her own. Eliciting a pleasured moan from the Kumo kunoichi. Slowly breaking the kiss, Mabui leaned back, her eyes glazed over with a smile on her face, meanwhile, Karui stood back and had watched the entire scene play out, completely shocked at the boldness of her team mate.

"Once I know what the old man's plan is, I will contact you and let you know of a meeting place." Naruto informed the two, though mainly Mabui. "I assume you are staying at the Soaring Leaf hotel?"

While it wasn't the only hotel within the village, it was the most popular amongst the foreign visitors, especially during the Chunin Exams.

"Yes." Came the short reply.

"Alright, I'll get in contact with you as soon as I can."

Nodding in affirmation, the three genins parted ways. With the two Kumogakure kunoichi's heading down to check on their team mate, as it was expected of them to do, and Naruto taking his place next to Sakura to watch the rest of the matches.

"You alright Naruto-kun?" The pinkette asked as the blonde jinchuriki took his place beside her at the railing, turning her attention fully to him to address the cuts he had received from the match. "You took awhile to return from your match."

"Yeah," Naruto reassured her with a smile. "Just used a bit too much chakra by spamming the Shadow Clones."

This wasn't a complete lie, since he had used a considerable amount of his own chakra to summon forth his small army of Shadow Clones, not to mention channeling chakra through his seals to keep them active during his match. And while he could ask Kurama to refill his reserves, the two of them really didn't want to take the chance unless it was absolutely necessary.

"Only you would use such a technique to over come your opponent with sheer numbers." Sakura sighed while she shook her head. Knowing full well that while useful, the Shadow Clone technique was not designed for frontal assault, instead, it was more of an infiltration and spying technique.

"It worked." Naruto grinned.

Slowly, a comfortable silence fell between the two as the continued to watch the matches below. Cheering and supporting their fellow Konoha genin, while Naruto would silently cheer for his himes. Which they themselves had put on some good matches, even though Naruto could tell that they were holding back considerably, though there had been a few glimpses of their true skill throughout the matches, though ironically not from their own matches. Two such moments stood out the most.

The first moment was during the match between Temari of the Wind from Sunagakure, and Konoha's up and coming weapon's mistress, Tenten. While the bun haired kunoichi had given it her all, the Suna-nin's wind attacks had proved too much for the budding weapon's mistress to over come. However, towards the end of the match, Temari had intended to severely cripple her opponent, as Tenten begun to fall, the blonde haired kunoichi had positioned her iron fan directly below the girl, clearly intending to break her back from the impact.

Rory however would have none of it. Seeing what was about to happen, the raven haired halberd wielder had flung her weapon into the center of the arena with such force that when it had impacted, it had cracked and created an upheaval in the ground which sent the Suna kunoichi flying back before 'the Reaper' had landed atop the handle of the halberd and caught Tenten before she hit the ground. As the medics had rushed out to collect the defeated weapon's mistress, Rory had leveled a cold glare towards the fan user. A silent warning being sent, which cause Temari to shudder under the ruby eyed woman's gaze.

The second time had come during Rock Lee's and Gaara's match. The bowl haired taijutsu prodigy had given the red haired Suna jinchuriki a run for his money, especially when the green clad boy took off the weights he had been wearing throughout the match, allowing him to move at such speeds that he managed to slip through Gaara's sand defense, being the first to score a hit on the red head. Though, even after using his own forbidden taijutsu skill, it still proved ineffective against the jinchuriki. While Rock Lee was exhausted from using such skills, Gaara had struck. Rock Lee had attempted to evade the on coming attacks, but the sheer amount of sand was too much for the exhausted boy, as the sand wrapped around both the green clad boys leg and arm, crushing them both, before the sand began to encase it's victim, despite the proctors call to cease the match. A series of splashes of water struck the sand, rendering it unusable catching the red haired jinchuriki's attention, prompting him to look at the offending person that had denied him his kill.

Standing firm before him was Kairi, unflinching as the unstable jinchuriki stared her down. Though currently unable to act, as water had rendered his sand ineffective to utilize. Not to mention the proctor had warned him that should he continue his attack, he would be disqualified from the exams. While the red head jinchuriki would love to sate his mothers blood lust, he had reluctantly complied and left the arena, allowing the medics to carry off the crippled boy to be treated.

Then there had been Sakura's match against her once again best friend, Ino. Though the match had proven to both kunoichi that they had seriously slacked off on their training, and showed where their flaws where. The match had ended in a double knock out, much to both girls disappointment. Each making a promise to one another and their team mates that they would train harder and take their career as kunoichi more seriously.

Then there was the match between the sweet, but shy Hinata Hyuga against her own cousin. An arrogant boy that held a grudge over the young heiress for something well beyond her own control, as well as a majority of the Main Branch family of the Hyuga Clan. Though the boy was so entrapped by his own hatred, that he had literally attempted to kill his own cousin, purposely aiming for her heart before he was stopped by the proctor and three other jonin in the form of Might Gai, Kurenai, and Asuma. Meanwhile, Naruto stood between Neji and the fallen Hyuga heiress, glaring at the misguided boy as he begun to spout nonsense of the jonins showing favoritism to the main branch of his clan.

It was then and there, that Naruto had made a blood vow against Neji, promising to avenge Hinata, causing the Hyuga prodigy to scoff at the blondes words. Already deeming him a failure as fate had dictated. Though Naruto remained undeterred, stating that fate was only a crutch for the weak. A statement Neji did not take kindly to.

"As of this moment the preliminaries of the third exam are now complete!" Hayate proclaimed, catching everyone's attention as the final match had concluded. "To those of you who have won your bouts and qualified for the finals of the third phase of the exams, congratulations!"

"Now, I will explain the rules for the finals." Hiruzen began as he stepped forward, allowing the chunin hopefuls to see him. "As it was mentioned at the start of the preliminaries, you will conduct your final round of bouts in front of everyone. Each of you represent your village of your respective lands."

"So, we want you to exhibit and fully showcase your various talents." The Hokage continued. "As such, the finals will commence one month from now!"

"What?" One of the sound genin stated. "Why not do it right here, right now?"

"We call this the requisite preparation period." The elder village leader replied. "A period that allows us to relay the results of the preliminaries to the rulers and Kage's of your various villages, and to invite them to attend the finals. This also serves as a preparation period for you applicants."

"During this month long period, you may analyze what you have seen during these matches and use it to increase your chances of victory." Hiruzen continued. "Though, some of you probably ended up exposing everything you've got in front of your rivals, while others among you may were terribly injured. So, in order to level the field, this month is also to be used to heal and train."

Having said his piece, the elder village leader took a step back as Anko stepped onto the arena floor with a box in her hands.

"Now, before you maggots run off, there is one thing you must do first." Anko stated. "All of you line up, when I come to you, you are to reach inside and grab just one piece of paper. That paper will have a number on it, that number will dictate your position in the final matches."

One by one, each of the qualifiers grabbed their slip of paper and called out their numbers, allowing Ibiki to write them down on his clipboard. After a few moments, all the papers had been drawn, and Ibiki had revealed the line up for the finals in the following order.

Naruto Uzumaki vs Neji Hyuga

Xion vs Karui

Sasuke Uchiha vs Gaara

Mabui vs Aqua

Kankuro vs Shino Aburame

Rory 'the Reaper' vs Temari

Shikamaru Nara vs Dosu

Morgiana vs Kairi

"Now then, you are all dismissed to plan out your training, rest up, or whatever else you please." Hiruzen stated. "Now, do any of you have any questions?"

"May I?" Shikamaru asked, raising his hand to gain the elder village leaders attention.

"This is a tournament correct? So that means there will only be one winner." The Nara stated. "Then does that mean that only one person will be promoted to Chunin?"

"No, that is not the case." The Hokage replied. "For the finals, you will be observed by many judges, not just myself. We will be looking at your over all performance throughout your matches, and will determine an absolute value to your skills. Those that are deemed to have sufficient skills will be considered for the promotion."

"So, that means there is a chance all of us could become Chunin?" Temari inquired.

"Yes." Came the short and simple reply. "However, it is also possible that none of you will be promoted either."

Seeing as there were no more questions, Hiruzen had dismissed the participants, though his eyes lingered on the blonde jinchuriki as the boy met up with his team before the trio that made up Team 7 departed the arena floors, no doubt in search of their sensei. Letting out a sigh, he summoned one of his ANBU to have Kakashi meet him in his office before he talks with his team.

'_With those girls in the village, I can not risk having the boy encounter them.' _He thought to himself. _'I'll need to bring Jiraiya back to take the boy out of the village for the month.'_

* * *

**Ber****ugakure**

A fair skinned woman with brown eyes and straight blonde hair, parted down the center with shoulder length bangs that framed her face, as the rest traveled down to her lower back, tied into two loose pony tails sat before the large desk that Kushina was seated behind. A swirl of excitement and nervousness washing over the blonde woman, as well as her companion, apprentice and surrogate daughter.

"You said you had news, Kushina-chan." The blonde inquired, the nervousness showing in her voice due to the red haired Berukage being eerily silent since they had answered the woman's summons.

"Before I tell you, I need to know something Tsunade." Kushina stated, pushing herself up from her chair. "Did you have anything to do with it?"

"Anything to do with what?" Tsunade asked, clearly confused as she stood up to look the woman before her in the eye. A woman she considered a sister in all but blood.

"Konoha was behind Naruto's kidnapping." Kushina finally answered, earning a surprised gasp from both Tsunade and her companion.

"Are-are you sure?"

"Just over a month ago, we sensed Kurama's chakra signature." The red head explained. "It came from Wave Country. I dispatched the girls to investigate. They had learned that Naruto-kun was there with a genin team from Konoha, under one Kakashi Hatake."

"Kakashi?" Tsunade whispered disbelievingly. "But he should have known it was Naruto, unless…."

"Kakashi was the one that kidnapped my son, and placed a memory seal and loyalty seal on him." Kushina bluntly stated. "And I have no doubt that he did it under the orders of Hiruzen. Fortunately, the girls have made contact with him in Konoha, now all that is left is to bring him home, but I will see the ones responsible for his kidnapping pay for their transgressions."

"What can I do to help?" Tsunade asked, looking Kushina dead in the eye to show that she was serious.

* * *

**Additional Authors Notes:** And that's a wrap!

So yeah, I know I skipped over a lot of the fights and matches, but I really wanted to focus on just Naruto and Omoi's fight, as well as Naruto finally meeting Mabui and learning just why Omoi wanted to kill him. Also, fight scenes are one of my weaknesses in writing, and while I want to improve in writing them, I don't want to do it at the cost of derailing the pacing of the story.

Anyways, I hope everyone enjoyed this chapter. Feel free to leave your thoughts and comments in the reviews! Or hit me up with a private message.


	11. Chapter 11

**Author's Notes:** And we're back!

Luckily, we were able to get not only lights, but also internet back without two days after Hurricane Delta hit. Which is great, because I was honestly expecting to not have it for at least three to fives days, if not a week. Also very fortunate that hardly any damage happened to the house, and the surrounding areas.

Anyways, last chapter we got to see the fight between Naruto and Omoi with our poor blonde having no idea why Omoi is so pissed at him, which was amusing. Fortunately, our blonde hero had a trick up his sleeve to safely end the match. Not only that, he finally got to meet Mabui and learn exactly why the Kumo swordsman was trying to take his head off.

Now, with the preliminary matches over, what is going to happen over the month break?

* * *

**Discord**

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Hit me up with a private message for server information!

* * *

**Review Corner**

_**12Ookami12 –**_ Mabui's kiss was more of a spur of the moment thing. Though I will say that she is a little jealous that the other girls already have a deep connection with Naruto. So she is a little eager to try and establish a connection of her own.

As for additional girls, no. The list is complete. Those currently listed are all that will be added.

_**PraetorXyn –**_ Yup, as stated, they are going to be able to rebuild the village with the amount of bricks Hiruzen will be shitting. Especially once Kushina arrives.

_**UnsanMusho –**_ Yup, and I have a special plan for Tsunade.

_**Bloodbrother 18 –**_ Fear not, Naruto will have more time with his ladies throughout this chapter. Especially after some certain events happen.

_**YeagerMeister31 –**_ The fight between Rory and Temari will be interesting, even though it will be mostly because of Rory 'playing with her food', so to speak. Also, the fact that the Berugakure girls have information about the invasion about to happen, allows them to thin the numbers a little by removing combatants.

As for what Naruto will do about Jiraiya, you'll see.

_**Story Artist –**_ What is Naruto going to be doing with his fiancee's over the month long break?

Sex, lots and lots of sex.

Actually, not really. They will be bonding and training. As for how Naruto will meet Yoruichi, Esdeath, and Pyrrha? Well, I will say that Yoruichi is already in Bergakure, so she will make her appearance when they return, in classic Yoruichi fashion.

Esdeath is currently fighting in the Kirigakure Civil War, and Pyrrha will be making her debut shortly after they return to Berugakure after the Exams.

_**Mbak Titin –**_ Fear now, I will be completing this story. Though I do have multiple stories going on at once. So, sometimes updating can get a little chaotic. Especially with trying to balance my own responsibilities away from the keyboard.

* * *

**Harem**

Anko, Aqua, Esdeath, Kairi, Koyuki, Mabui, Morgiana, Pyrrha, Rory, Sakura, Xion, and Yoruichi

* * *

**Remember Me**

Chapter 11

The smell of antiseptic and sterilization permeated throughout the hall ways as Naruto made his way through the hospital corridors under a Henge. It was a smell that he had grown to absolutely despise. No doubt due to his constant stays within the building to get 'treated' after one of his countless mob beatings throughout the years. Which had pretty much equated to the doctors or nurses just leaving him on a bed bleeding, and if it was required that they actually treat him, they were not gentle.

'_Let's see, __r__oom 336, __room 336….'_ He mentally chanted as he looked over the series of doors that he passed by. _'Ah, here it is.'_

Finding his destination, the henged jinchuriki slipped into the room. Upon entering, he saw that two others were also in the room. Both on guard due to his sudden entrance, however he quickly put them at ease by dropping his henge.

"Sorry for the scare." Naruto apologized to the two Kumo kunoichi in the room. "The front desk is not usually forthcoming with any information when I ask."

"That is understandable." Mabui replied. "Were you able to visit your friend?"

"I did," The blonde replied. "She's in rough shape because of what her cousin did, but Kurenai-sensei said that she would pull through. How is he?"

"Omoi is stubborn." The silver haired kunoichi sighed. Stepping away from her team mates bed. "But he should be waking up any moment know."

Almost as if on cue, the white haired genin began to stir from his sleep, groaning in protest before his eyes slowly opened. Seeing his two female team mates, he couldn't help but smile, especially at Mabui. However, as soon as his eyes landed on the third person in the room, his face contorted into a deep scowl.

"What is _**he**_ doing here?" He asked, with no small amount of venom.

"Omoi, what the hell were you thinking?" The silver haired kunoichi demanded as she crossed her arms over her chest.

"What?" Was the white haired genin's intelligent response.

"You were purposely trying to kill Naruto-kun during your match." Mabui stated with a scowl across her face.

"So?" Omoi shrugged, causing the silver haired kunoichi to slightly growl at her team mates lack of empathy.

"So?" Karui questioned, having similar thoughts to her silver haired team mate. "That's all you have to say?"

"Yeah, so what?" Omoi countered, glaring at the blonde in the room. "Would have succeeded to if this bastard didn't use such a cheap tactic with his damn clones."

"And then what?" Mabui demanded. "What did you think was going to happen then? That I was just going to jump into your arms?"

"Not to mention, had you succeeded, Raikage-sama would no doubt have you executed, if not thrown into prison for life." Karui pointed out, causing the young Kumo genin to widen his eyes in horror. "Or did you forget that the primary reason for their betrothal was to secure an alliance between Kumogakure and Berugakure?"

"And that is even if you survived long enough to leave the village." Naruto decided to add his two ryo to the conversation. "Can you imagine what the girls, my other fiances, would do to you had you succeeded in killing me? And need I remind you that one of them is Rory the Reaper."

Hearing the ruby eyed, ravenette's nick name caused a shiver of fear to travel down the poor Kumo boys spine.

"And she isn't even the one you would need to worry about." The blonde continued with a slight chuckle, catching the other three occupants attention. "She may not look it, but Kairi-chan has a hell of a temper, just like my mother."

"Seriously Omoi," Karui sighed. "What the hell is wrong with you. Normally you would come up with countless outlandish out comes for even the smallest of actions, yet when you actually need to consider the consequences, you didn't even think."

For his part, the chastised genin remained silent. His eyes downcast as his team mates berated him for his foolish actions.

"And to be honest Omoi," Mabui began, frowning at what she was about to tell her team mate. "Both Karui-chan and I are strongly considering to have you removed from the team."

"Wha-what?" The dark skinned genin stammered in shock. His eyes snapping towards his two team mates.

"You fully intended to outright kill your opponent during your match." Karui pointed out. "Not because he was a threat to Kumo, or because he was an enemy shinobi. But because you were jealous."

"Not to mention, You've become increasingly obsessed with me. To the point that it is concerning." Mabui added with a frown. "How long before you won't accept 'no' as an answer?"

Omoi paled when he realized what the silver haired kunoichi was implying. Immediately, he wanted to deny he would ever consider such a thing, though he knew it would fall upon deaf ears. Especially with the way he had been acting, if the way both girls were chastising him was any indication. It was then that the dark skinned genin had realized just how much of a jerk he had been acting lately.

"You're right." He sniffled slightly as tears threatened to fall from his eyes. "I've acted like a complete jerk since we've arrived here, and I'm sorry, for what it's worth."

"Listen Omoi-san." Naruto began, as he took a chair next to the young swordsman's bed. "I honestly don't think you're a bad guy."

"How can you say that?" Omoi asked, surprised at the empathy the blonde was giving him. "I tried to kill you!"

"That you did." The blonde chuckled slightly. "But you were also under a lot of emotional stress and desperate to gain the attention and affection of the one you desired. But, I can relate."

Both girls watched on, as the young blonde continued to talk with their team mate. Curious as to what Naruto was talking about.

"I chased after this girl all throughout my time in the academy." Naruto began. "Though where as your object of desire at least viewed you as a friend and comrade to confide in; mine saw me as a means to vent her frustrations out on."

All three of the Kumo genin could only look at the blonde in shock.

"Not to long ago, I got assigned to the same team as her." The blonde continued. "And for the most part, things played out the same way they did in the academy. She would chase after Sasuke, and then vent her frustration out on me when she got rejected. At least until our first mission outside of the mission."

"During that mission, the seals I had placed on me finally broke, allowing me to breath free air once more." He carried on, earning a look of confusion from the dark skinned genin, since both Mabui and Karui had a basic idea of what had happened to the blonde. Seeing this, Naruto decided to explain. "You see, when I was seven, I was kidnapped from my home village by Konoha. They put two seals on me. A memory seal, to repress my existing memories of my mother and friends in Berugakure. They also put a loyalty seal on me to ensure I wouldn't think about turning against the village. Since then, this village has done everything to try and break me, with very, very few people who genuinely care for me."

"Why didn't you just escape after the seals broke?" Karui inquired.

"Short version, I simply didn't have the skills." Naruto sighed, turning towards the dark skinned red head. "Due to the memory seal, and with the way they sabotaged my training and education, I lacked the required skills to escape for long. Also, I couldn't leave Anko-chan behind."

"You mean the proctor from the second exam?" Omoi asked, remembering the eccentric snake mistress.

"Yeah, her and I go way back. She was my first true friend in this cesspool." The blonde chuckled. "She's a lot like me, constantly harassed by the villagers, though they know better then to attack her, though she does have to put up with idiotic perverts that think she is easy."

"Anyways, it was her idea to make our escape during the Chuunin Finales." He continued, earning a look from the three Kumo genin. "That's kind of why I needed to shut you up quickly, before you spouted something that could jeopardize our escape plan."

Omoi looked down, a bit ashamed before a question occurred to him.

"How did you beat me exactly?" He asked. "I know it wasn't just your clones. I could feel my energy being sapped away every time one of them made contact with me."

"The clones were part of it, yes." Naruto conceded. "But the reason you felt your energy being sapped is due to the seals I had on my hands, that transferred to my clones. They are designed to drain a person of their chakra."

Omoi could only gawk at the blonde, before letting out a soft chuckle to himself.

"You really are more then you appear, Naruto-san." He admitted, a little disappointed that not only had he let his own emotions get the better of him, but that he had also under estimated his opponent. In a real battle, it would have cost him more then a simple loss. It would have cost him, and potentially his team mates their lives.

"Naruto-san," Omoi began, looking to the blonde genin. "I am sorry. I am sorry for my actions against you, and by extension, the frustration I have caused those around you."

"You're forgiven." Naruto smiled, extending his hand towards the bed ridden genin.

Smiling at the gesture, Omoi took the blondes hand and gave it a firm shake.

"Anyways, I should go and see how my worthless sensei is going to shrug off my training." Naruto stated as he stood up from the chair he had been sitting in, already having a hunch that Kakashi was going to brush him off for some reason or another. Not that the blonde intended to train with his kidnapper, but he had to keep up appearances.

'_**You should warn them about the invasion.'**_ Kurama advised.

'_Shit, almost forgot about that.'_ Naruto mentally groaned. _'Thanks Kurama.'_

"By the way, be careful during the finals." Naruto informed the trio. "Orochimaru is planning an invasion. So be careful."

"Thank you for warning us, Naruto-kun." Mabui bowed in gratitude. "We'll make sure we are ready."

"Is that when you're going to make your escape?" Omoi inquired.

"There will be a lot of confusion, perfect time to slip away." Naruto stated. "Though, I am worried about those I hold dear. The Ichiruka's, Sakura-chan, and Hinata-chan, mostly."

"We'll make sure their safe, Naruto-san." Omoi stated. "On my honor as a swordsman."

"Thank you, Omoi-san."

With nothing left to say, Naruto bid the trio one final good bye before departing the room to find his supposed sensei.

* * *

**A Few Minutes Later**

"Ah, there you are Naruto." Kakashi beamed as he stood before the blonde genin, his nose buried in his famous orange book. Just behind him, stood the raven haired Uchiha. Arms crossed, with a look of annoyance and a mixture of suspicion, as the boy glared at the silver haired man.

"Hey Kakashi-sensei." Naruto greeted the man with his usual cheerfulness. "So, what are we going to train in to get Teme and I ready for the finals?"

Sasuke grunted at the blondes jab at him, but ignored it none the less. It was a usual greeting between the two of them. Kakashi on the other hand, frowned behind his mask.

"Actually, I will be focusing on Sasuke alone for the month, since he will be facing a far more dangerous opponent then you will be." The silver haired jonin explained, causing Naruto's smile to drop. "However, Hokage-sama has arranged a special tutor for you to train you for the month."

Hearing this, the blondes eyes narrowed slightly as a sinking feeling formed in his gut. No good could come of the old bastard personally hand picking someone to train him for the finals. Especially if it was who the young jinchuriki thought it was, which was very likely, given the scenario. The bastard Kakashi was going to be focusing solely on the 'Last Loyal' Uchiha. His fiances from Berugakure were currently in the village, partaking in the exams, and the old bastard himself would supposedly have his hands tied with organizing the finals. Which only left one person the old monkey would trust to personally over see the blondes training. Jiraiya, the one that designed the memory and loyalty seal that had been placed on him.

'_Figures the old bastard would bring in that perverted frog fucker.' _Naruto mentally growled. _'No doubt because of the girls being in the village, he wants to keep me away. __Hide his sins.'_

'_**We can't let that happen, kit.'**_ Kurama advised. _**'Not when we are so close to getting out of here.'**_

'_I know, and I have an idea.'_ The blonde reassured his companion.

'_**You're going to use a Blood Clone, aren't you?'**_

'_Yup, buuut….'_ Naruto mentally grimaced at what he was going to have to do. _'I am going to need to apply the actual memory and loyalty seal on it, so the frog fucker doesn't suspect anything.'_

'_**And with my chakra empowering it, he will think it is the real you.'**_ The fox stated, catching on to what the blonde was planning. _**'**__**But, what are YOU going to do while your Blood Clone is 'training' with the pervert?'**_

'_Easy.'_ Naruto mentally grinned. _'I'm going to be spending time with my hime's in the cabin Anko-chan and I built in the Forest of Death.'_

'_**Oh?'**_ The kitsune grinned teasingly. _**'And just **__**what are you going to be doing, alone, with **__**all **__**of**__** your girls, unsupervised in that cabin?'**_

'_Ero-kitsune.'_ The blonde groaned, before turning his attention back towards Kakashi. "Aww, okay Kakashi-sensei. Do you know who the one that will be training me is?"

"I am not sure." Kakashi lied. "But Hokage-sama thinks very highly of him. He should already be in the village, so I am sure Hokage-sama will be summoning you soon to meet him."

"Well then, guess I better not keep the old man waiting. Later Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto exclaimed and quickly ran off. Leaving the silver haired jonin behind.

"Come on Sasuke, I got some special training for you to help advance your Sharingan further." The masked jonin instructed, earning another grunt from the Uchiha. Though he if was paying attention, he would have noticed the raven haired boy narrow his eyes slightly at him.

* * *

**Hokage's Office**

"I must thank you for arriving on short short notice, Jiraiya." Hiruzen greeted his favored student, as the Toad Sannin entered the office via the window.

"You said it was urgent." The large white haired man stated. "About the weapon."

"Yes." The village leader sighed. "Against all odds, the boy has managed to ascend into the finals for the exams, and his first opponent is one Neji Hyuga. A boy whom had already attempted to kill his own kin in the ring, and will no doubt attempt to kill our weapon. Which puts me in a delicate position."

"Why not just remove the boy from the exams?"

"It would raise too many questions to seemingly remove him for no reason." Hiruzen commented with a frown as he leaned back in his chair. "However, there is another issue. The girls from Berugakure are here, and they are in the finals too."

Hearing this, the mans eyes widened in shock, as well as a hint of fear.

"Have they…." He began to ask.

"So far, he has only had two encounters with them." The Hokage replied, knowing full well what his student was going to ask. "And during both encounters, it appears that neither recognized the other. So that does remove one concern. However, with the girls in the finals…."

"Kushina will be here to watch them." Jiraiya finished, feeling a shiver of dread travel down his spine. If she recognized the boy as her son, then things would go to hell faster then when he gets caught peeking in bath houses. "Are you sure there is no way to remove the weapon from the exams?"

"Not without drawing a lot of unwanted attention." Hiruzen frowned, all the while cursing his luck. "However, I do have a cover story for the boy, that should allay the woman's suspicions about her son. What I need you to do, is to take him out of the village for the month to reduce any chances of Naruto interacting with the girls. Even train him a bit, so he doesn't get himself killed against the Hyuga boy."

"How should I approach the boy?"

"I'll leave that to you." The elder village leader stated. "While he is with you though, make sure those seals are still tight, reinforce them if you have to."

"Understood." Jiraiya nodded before jumping into the window. "Now if you'll excuse me, with so many foreign beauties in one place, I have research to do."

And with that, the perverted Toad Sage was gone, leaving Hiruzen to shake his head at his students antics. Still, as perverted as the man was, he was rather skilled with seals, and the books he produced from his 'research' was a nice bonus.

* * *

**Half an Hour Later, Hot Springs**

"Of course that perverted frog fucker would be here." Naruto grumbled to himself, having just forced himself to have a friendly conversation with the old bastard. However, the blonde stopped cold when he realized a very crucial piece of information. His fiances were in the hot springs right now. This realization caused his blood to boil at the thought of his supposed godfather perving on his girls, again.

Sure enough, a few steps later, he heard the distinctive sound of a perverted giggle, causing Naruto to clench his fist in anger. However, before he allowed his temper to get the better of him, he remembered another, very crucial fact. Not only where his fiances current in the Hot Springs, but so were Konoha's infamous 'Ice Queens'. A sadistic grin spread across his face.

Finding the source of the giggling, he could see the white haired man softly giggling as he jotted down various notes and rough illustrations in his notebook of the girls that were currently enjoying their time within the springs. Grin still on his face, Naruto lifted his leg and with one chakra enhanced kick, sent the perverted Toad Sannin through the wooden wall and straight into the center of a group of extremely armed and very pissed off kunoichi.

Screams of pain and agony erupted from the hot springs, as Naruto made sure to keep his distance, leaning against a tree well away from the hole he had created with the perverts body. The last thing he needed was for the girls who were meting out the perverts just rewards, to turn their attention to him. After a good fifteen minutes had passed, the screams had finally grown silent, and a large group of women had exited the springs, all extremely satisfied with the work they had done.

"Are you the one who pushed that pervert in?" A woman with purple haired inquired, as the group approached the tree Naruto was leaning against, prompting the blonde to turn and meet the group of women. All the woman that addressed him to recognize who it was.

'_Naruto Uzumaki, named after Kushina-sama's missing son.'_ The woman mentally recalled. Though mentally frowned, as what the Hokage had told her, and her ANBU team didn't add up. For some reason, he had wanted the boy to be looked after, but under unusual orders to only prevent anything fatal from happening to the boy. In fact, the old man had removed her from her duty of looking after the boy because she was too good at protecting him.

"Yes." Naruto replied honestly. "I absolutely despise perverts, so when I saw him peeking on you all, I thought it would be best if he was caught in the act, and get his comeuppance."

"Very thoughtful of you, Naruto-san." Aqua smiled as she, and the other girls from her team made their way to the front of the group. "We thank you for defending our honor."

"It was nothing, Aqua-san." The blonde replied with a short bow. "I look forward to seeing you in the finals."

"As do I, Naruto-san." The bluenette replied, before turning to her team. "Come girls, we have to get ready for our month of training."

With a nod, all five of the girls from Berugakure separated from the group, though not before Rory gave the blonde jinchuriki a subtle wink, causing the poor boy to blush slightly. Slowly, each of the women departed, each bidding their thanks to the blonde, though Anko made sure to bury the poor boys head in between her mounds of flesh, much to his embarrassment and Kurenai's frustration before the Genjutsu Mistress pulled the Snake Mistress away, finally leaving just the boy and Jiraiya, whom was whimpering silently in pain.

As it turned out, Rory had clobbered him good with the blunt end of her halberd, no doubt causing blunt force trauma to his genitals. Even worse, Kairi, being the medic that she was, used her chakra scalpels to causing some severe internal damage to the perverts privates as well. Ensuring that should the man would never be able to get it up, ever again. Meanwhile, the rest of the women had pummeled his body into a bloody heap that now lay panting in the shallow waters of the hot springs. And worst of all, at least from the Toad Sannins perspective, Rory had destroyed his notebook with all his research with a Katon jutsu, right in front of him.

"Serves you right, pervert." Naruto commented, as both he and Kurama felt a sense of pride at seeing the bastard of a man in such a condition.

"Ohh," Jiraiya groaned in pain as he weakly crawled his way to the opening in the wall where the blonde stood. "That has got to be one of the worst beatings I have ever received. I can't feel my legs. Why would you do that, gaki?"

"Name's Naruto Uzumaki, and I hate perverts." Naruto shrugged. "Now who the hell are you?"

"So you're the brat sensei wants me to train." The white haired man groaned, shifting into his role effortlessly.

"What do you mean, Sensei?" The blonde inquired, playing his part as the clueless idiot, before his eyes snapped open in shock. "Wait a minute, you're…."

"That's right gaki." Jiraiya painfully grinned. "I am Jiraiya of the Sannin, the Legendary Toad Sage."

Normally, the man would strike various kabuki poses and do an eccentric dance, but currently his body was in too much pain to even breath. However, Naruto merely stared at him with a blank expression.

"How are you suppose to train me?" He finally asked. "I was able to sneak up on you as a mere genin, and you just got your ass kicked by a bunch of naked angry women."

"I was distracted!" The man scowled, though immediately winced in pain.

"Uh huh…."

"Anyways, just be at the front gates in an hour and be backed for a month." Jiraiya instructed between labored breaths as he attempted to stand up, only to fall to the ground once more. "Actually, make that two hours. I'm just going to lie here and catch my breath."

"Whatever you say Pervy-sage." The blonde shrugged and left the man on the ground, groaning in pain.

'_Perfect, this will give me plenty of time to prepare.' _Naruto thought with a grin and he took off towards his apartment.

* * *

**Two Hours Later**

Naruto huffed in boredom as he waited at the front gates for the perverted hermit to arrive. After nearly a half hour of waiting, the Toad Sannin finally made his appearance, though walking with extreme discomfort. No doubt, still not fully recovered from the injuries the women had meted out.

"Ready to go, gaki?" Jiraiya asked with a slight wince.

"You sure you going to be alright, Pervy-sage?" Naruto frowned, taking in the condition his supposed sensei was in.

"I've had worse." The man tried to shrug it off, though it was clear that the blonde genin was not buying it. "Anyways, let's go gaki, I got a lot I want to teach you."

With that, the two made their way out of the village. Unaware of a lone individual with blue eyes watching them as they departed. A grin on his face. Once they were far enough out of the village, the individual turned and quickly made his way towards the Forest of Death.

* * *

**A****dditional Authors Notes:** And cut!

I know, a little shorter then I normally do it, but it just felt right to end the chapter here. Next chapter will start off shortly after this before doing a time skip to the finals, and that is when it's really going to hit the fan. What with Kushina AND Tsunade in the village, not to mention, Corvo. Though he will be on a mission of his own.

Anyways, I hope everyone enjoyed this chapter, even if it was mostly just build up with what is to come. I also hope that everyone enjoyed what happened to Jiraiya. The poor man is never going to be the same, and even then, this isn't even the worst that is going to happen to him. Not to mention, there are other hints of something that is going to play a part in future chapters, let me know if you think you know what it is.

As always, feel free to leave your thoughts and such in the reviews, or hit me up with a private message!


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